The Perfect Place
by DewWater
Summary: She could never imagine being afraid of him, but nevertheless, that gaze sent a tremor down her spine...the eyes of an avenger. SasuSaku NaruHina NejiTen ShikaIno
1. Frozen

**Dedictaion:**

**This story is dedicated to all the people out on fanfiction that ever bothered to waste their time and read my worthless stories. And also to all the people who haven't quite yet found their place in the world with best friends.**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto. Guess what? If I did, I wouldn't be writing this. I'm currently formulating a plan to kidnap Naruto and make him give me permission to own his awesome show though.**

Hi everybody…it's me again…you know, that annoying writer that keeps popping up in all these really different categories. You see the story and you really don't want to read it, but now you're here anyways.

I don't really care why you're here, as long as you read and review.

I know, I sound like a git. Sorry. This is my first Naruto fanfiction, so give me a break with the criticism and show a little support, please. Let me boost my self confidence before you tear all back down, is what I'm saying.

In any case, if you're here to read the actual story, then I hope you're not disappointed. Without further ado, I give you my fanfiction.

_The Perfect Place_

By Dewwater

"SHANNARO!"

It was the average spring morning in Konoha. Team 7 was hanging out at the bridge, and Kakashi was late. Missing. However, it was nearing lunchtime, and Sakura was getting pretty pissed. She had thrown a pebble and hit Naruto in the back of the head with success.

The blond shinobi fell forward flat on his face. "Nani?"

Sakura puffed steam and leaned forward over the railing of the bridge, watching the river below coursing over rocks. "Kaka-sensei, where are you?" she grumbled, shielding her eyes from the sun. Hatake Kakashi the Copy Nin was _always _late. But not this late.

No normal human being was ever _this_ late.

Sakura considered. This was Kaka-sensei. He wasn't a normal human being. Still, he was going to get beaten into a bloody pulp once he did turn up.

POOF…

The pink-haired kunoichi whirled around to discover a silver-haired ninja standing behind her. It wasn't Kakashi, however…

"_Jiraiya_?!"

Naruto perked up, looking around wildly. "Ero-sennin? Nani? You owe me money for that ramen last week!" he pointed an accusing finger at the frog sannin. Jiraiya turned purple and promptly ignored the kyuubi vessel.

"Kakashi's not going to make it today," he addressed Sakura. "The jounins are working on a special project up at the Hokage headquarters." Sakura's eyes turned wide and white. "WHY DIDN'T HE TELL US?"

Jiraiya trembled with fear. How Kakashi dealt with kunoichis like Sakura, he would never know. It just made the prospect of showing her the new project more frightening.

"Ah…nevermind about that. You'll understand later. For now, come with me."

Sakura, Naruto, and Sasuke, who muttered "hn", leapt into the treetops quickly after Jiraiya, who's silver hair they followed through the shrubbery until the bright red dome of the Hokage headquarters was clearly visible against the horizon. Birds flew low overhead, cawing. "It's at the top of the roof," Jiraiya called loudly over his shoulder, the sound of his clothes rustling evident in the morning silence.

The four ninja hopped from foothold to foothold easily to the domed ceiling with ease. The glaring sun reflected off of the ceiling tiles and created blinding white light, so that the Chuunin were temporarily blinded.

When their eyes adjusted to the light, what they saw amazed them so much that they had to rub their eyes again.

"Masaka," Sasuke muttered.

Lined up in stiff rows, nobody even slightly out of place, were Konoha kunoichi. There were not many of them-only ten or so that were currently Chuunin. Their hair blew up in gusts with the wind, but their faces were frozen, their eyes glossed over.

Naruto gaped, open-mouthed. Sasuke stepped forward slightly. "How…how is this possible?" Naruto hopped up and down. Sasuke rolled his eyes. "Dobe. It's a simple freezing jutsu."

Sakura had turned very pale and was rocking on her feet. "They look like a collection," she murmured softly. Jounin were walking among the rows calmly, inspecting their subjects. The pink-haired girl's wide emerald green eyes widened as there was a hit on a pressure point in her back. Blackness clouded in.

Jiraiya caught her just as Sasuke and Naruto realized what had happened. "Oi! Ero-sennin!" Naruto protested, following the wordless sannin as he deposited Sakura on a table in the middle of the roof. Medic specialists instantly swarmed in.

"Ero-sennin, you can't do this!" Naruto wailed, panicking. Sasuke looked slightly perturbed by the action also. "The dobe has a point there, Jiraiya-sama." The silver-haired sannin only made his lips curl slightly at the corners. "You'll understand everything later, boys."

"But…"

"Later."

"Later" turned out to be very much later indeed. Sasuke, Naruto, Shikamaru, and Neji shared a messy and extremely crowded flat near the edge of town. They opened the door and stepped in, greeted by the old musty odor that camped out in the corners.

Shika was sprawled across the couch, holding a book upside down. He glanced up lazily as the two entered, sitting up. "Yo." Sasuke bristled slightly. "Have you seen their new project?" he barked.

The genius looked surprised. "Yes. Troublesome." Naruto jumped up and down in exasperation. "What are they doing to the kunoichi? Doesn't it bother you? What about Sakura-chan?"

Shika only smoothed back his ponytail slightly and lay back down on the couch. "It has nothing to do with us. If the jounin and Jiraiya are dealing with it, the kunoichis cannot be harmed or in danger of injury, and more importantly, their lives. It's not our job to meddle with older ninjas' affairs. We keep out of it."

Neji entered the room, his pale eyes scanning the room loosely. "Hai. I agree with Shikamaru-kun. What business do we have, meddling in their affairs?"

"Just because you're an ice cube doesn't mean I have to be," Naruto sulked, sitting down in a corner with his arms crossed. "I want to find out what they're doing up there, and soon. I want to get Sakura-chan back." Sasuke smirked and leaned against the unkempt fireplace. "Alright, dobe, we'll sit back and watch you create trouble. And get caught, again."

Naruto scowled at the Uchiha prodigy. "It's not like you could do any better." "Let's not get cocky!" Sasuke retorted angrily. "Erusai, both of you," Neji muttered. "Like a bunch of children fighting over the shiny red car in a sandbox."

He flipped on the TV casually, and bit into a piece of naruto lying on the table, (A/N: the fishcakes, not the character!). His face contorted in disgust. "Leftovers."

_Back on the Roof_

"Are you sure that this is going to work?" Kakashi casually slipped in the question.

Jiraiya sighed. "Kakashi, I have already told you. It's the only way." They tucked into their parceled lunches, watching the next shift of jounin making sure that all was in order with the "project". The silver-haired sensei did nothing to reply to Jiraiya's comforting answer.

He watched the short, pink hair of his student flying up in the wind, smacking against the pale heart of her face. Next to her, ironically, was the form of Yamanaka Ino; her long platinum blond hair had gotten loose of its pony and was rising up in the wind as if it were alive. Both of their eyes glimmered like dusty jewels in the midnoon sun, dull as frosted glass.

It didn't feel right, looking at the neat rows of kunoichi and thinking of the ridiculous reason that all of this fuss was being made. It didn't seem right that the nins were using so much chakra over such a trivial event. And yet it was all happening, and Hatake Kakashi could do nothing about it.

"Why are we doing this again, Jiraiya?" he muttered.

Jiraiya's reply was muffled through his lunch. "Last time we organized the End-of-Year Shinobi Dance, it didn't work out so well, did it? This way, I think that the nins will have a way to bond with each other." Kakashi raised his eyebrow, evident even through his eyepatch. "_Bond_ with each other? If that's your goal, they'll be chucking knives at their partner before the night is over."

The frog sage sighed. "Kakashi, always the difficult one. If you have a better idea, then be sure to notify me." The sharingan-user fell silent. It was true that he didn't exactly have better plans in mind…but this?

"You're desperate, aren't you?"

"Yeah, and your hair looks like you were just electrocuted."

"Look who's talking, the guy with the exact same haircut."

Jiraiya huffed. "It is _not_ exactly the same."

Kakashi huffed right back. "If we both took off our hitae ate, people would probably mistake us for each other. Jiraiya looked taken aback.

"The ladies…worship someone such as yourself over _me_? I think your senses are quite muddled, Kakashi." Kakashi only smiled to himself under the black mask he was wearing. "Whatever you say, Jiraiya…whatever you say…"

_The Next Day_

"NANI?"

Naruto bolted up from the couch. Sasuke looked at him, feeling impatient. "I said, we're to report to the roof again." Naruto struggled to pull on his orange jacket. Hopping on one foot, he attempted to pull on a mismatched sock with the free hand.

"I can see that you'll be needing a minute," Sasuke smirked, perfectly dressed as usual. He leaned casually against the locked doorway to the outside, and Naruto glared at him. Electricity shot between their eyeballs.

Finally, Naruto had managed to be fully dressed, and the four of the boys filed out of the door. At the top of the roof, the kunoichi looked a little worse for the wear from the long night. A few of them were still sporting goosebumps all up their arms. Ino's hair looked like a tumbleweed.

Milling around the roof were the same jounin as yesterday, as well as some other male Chuunin that they recognized from their year. Among them was Chouji, Kiba, Lee, and Shino, along with Akamaru.

"Order!" boomed a burly masked ANBU member at the far end of the roof through a megaphone. Everybody immediately shut up.

"As you all know, the annual Ninja Ball…" Jiraiya whispered something in the ANBU man's ear. "…ah, Ninja Dance, is coming up. Since it was a total disaster last year…" Shikamaru smirked. "…we are trying a new system this year."

The man gestured casually to the lined up kunoichi. "We have summoned all of the eligible kunoichi who are Chuunin and put them under a freezing jutsu. The boys will pick one girl they would willingly go to the dance with, and stand in front of her."

The four boys looked at each other, feeling a sinking feeling at the pit of their stomachs.

"Nande?" muttered Naruto. "Why me?"

Then he locked eyes with Sasuke. At the same moment, they both knew that they wanted to go with Sakura. Naruto, because of obvious reasons, and Sasuke, because pretty much every other girl was a rabid fan girl.

They raced, and Sasuke won as usual.

Naruto, beaten and sulky, spotted Hinata a few girls down, and promptly stepped in front of her. Patting the frozen Hyuuga on the shoulder, he smiled. "So, Hinata-chan, we're going together, eh?" he said. Hinata continued to stare with her wide, pearl eyes.

Shikamaru stopped in front of Ino and shuddered. "Troublesome." And yet, most of the other girls were taken. She was one of the few he knew left. Shrugging, he quickly stepped in front of her before Chouji could, and smugly crossed his arms.

Neji was having less luck. A total ice-cube by nature, he had no intention of fraternizing with girls of any kind. Nearly all of the girls were taken by the time he remembered Tenten, who was possibly the closest thing he had ever had to a friend, and hurried to see if she was still open. She was, her buns coming undone. Gently, he fixed them for her. She wouldn't have to know that he had done it later, and turned to stand casually in front of her frozen form.

"Alright, ready?"

All of the jounin put their hands together in the Seal of the Tiger. "Kai!"

All at once, the kunoichi were murmuring amongst themselves, their eyes still oddly confused and out of focus. "Nani? Demo…" "How did I end up here…" "I was just sleeping an hour ago…"

Neji turned around to see Tenten, also looking puzzled to see him. "Neji?" Neji shrugged. "Hn." "Uh, what I am doing here?" she asked, trying to sound less confused and turning 360 degrees. Neji coughed. "To sum it up, I'm now your date for the Ninja Dance." It took a moment to register for Tenten. She smiled slightly. "Er…why do I get the feeling that you were forced into this?"

The first thing Sakura saw once she was conscious again was the spiky back of Sasuke's familiar raven-black hair. "Sasuke-kun?" she asked shyly. Sasuke flinched. Sakura put her hand on his shoulder and turned him around. Sasuke had the odd urge to brush her hand off. "Uh, hi."

Hinata blushed when she realized that Naruto was less than a foot away from her. "N-Naruto-kun…" she muttered, pressing her fingers together. Naruto smiled, putting his hand behind his hand. "Yo, Hinata-chan!" "Heh heh…" he thought, a sweatdrop appearing. How was this supposed to be explainable?

"Shika…maru?" Ino said. She was surprised to find that her hair was not in tip-top condition…rather the opposite. Shikamaru sighed. "Troublesome." And he was quite right.

How the heck was this supposed to end?

Well, you know the drill. Please review to tell me what you think. I accept flames, because it's probably crud anyways. Might continue it if I get enough "encouraging" reviews.

Ja ne!


	2. Tarot

**Disclaimer: Still don't own Naruto. He escaped capture…**

**Thank you, everybody, for reviewing! I'm glad that you think my writing is good! I hope that others like you kind souls will think so too. That's why I'm continuing the fic…it should be getting more interesting now……**

**This chapter will be a Tenten-centric…**

_The Perfect Place_

By: DewWater

At the end of town, at the very edge of Konohagakure, there was a medium-sized, cozy-looking brown house. It's bricks were modest and worn at the edges, and there were a few shingles missing on the roof. The rain sometimes leaked through the cracks in the gutter.

Overall, it was a pretty cozy house, surrounded as it was with casual gardens of extremely unique flowers. Weeds were starting to creep up, not quite choking and yet too fierce to be ignored. Ivy twined around the dusty white fence posts, which were broken down at the east corner.

The inhabitants were four Konoha Chuunin: none other than Haruno Sakura, Hyuuga Hinata, Yamanaka Ino, and Tenten.

The fine twilight was being punctured by the sound of vases shattering echoing from inside the house. "I'm going to MURDER Shikamaru!!" Ino roared, blasting dragon flames, and continued to crunch her seventh vase between her bare hands. Tenten and Hinata nervously tried to restrain her.

Sakura sighed and flopped down on the couch, unbelievably not taking in a word that Ino was saying. Her eyes were bulging in the shape of monstrously Barbie-pink hearts, red tinting her cheeks like a drunkard's, while she murmured, "Sasuke-kun…" over and over again.

The other three sweatdropped on the floor.

Tenten made a casual goodbye wave with her arm as she headed out of the door, preferring to avoid Sakura while she was in lovesick mode. "Going out for weapon practice," she muttered. "Ja ne!"

It was her favorite time of day: twilight. The sky was strewn with colors that had no name, interrupted by silvery pinpricks of diamond light, and the smiling face of the pockmarked full moon, just rising over the mountains. The faces of the Hokages glared down over Konoha, stern but protecting like a doting father.

In truth, she had no real intention of any training practice. She was tired out from yesterday's double block exercise with Neji's jyuuken, and her ribs were still badly bruised. She slid down a tree trunk, twirling a kunai absent-mindedly through her index and middle fingers.

Suddenly, she whirled. There had been a giggle.

Amidst the trees, it was already dark. The kunoichi squinted suspiciously at the darkening forest. Another giggle, this time from behind her.

Slowly, Tenten turned to face inward, toward her clearing. Amidst the tall, untamed grasses stood a girl, around thirteen like her. Her wildly red hair was swept back into a long, thin braid that reached the crook of her knees. Loose, fiery strands battered her pale, heart shaped face. She had wide, interchanging green eyes that shifted shade whenever she moved.

Her clothing was odd. The shirt opened a huge V-neck, netting underneath. The sleeves were very largely belled, and there was a dark green sash around the waste. The tails of the shirt reached even longer than her hair. Her kunai holster was pinning down the fabric of black cargo pants. Her ninja sandals were just a tad too small.

"Who are you?" Tenten asked, a warning in her voice.

The girl smiled widely. "It's customary for a person to introduce themselves before asking for another's identity." Tenten inwardly flinched. Those words rung like bells in her ears, too familiar, like they belonged in Neji's mouth.

Tenten stopped spinning the kunai. It was now gripped tightly in her throwing hand, point facing the right direction for a deadly accurate throw. "You're the outsider here," she growled, the Konoha hitae ate on her forehead glinting in the moonlight.

The girl didn't stop smiling, but her thin and straight nose wrinkled slightly between the thin red eyebrows.

"Kyoko. My name is Kyoko. I am from the Hidden Village of the Sand."

Tenten loosened her grip on the kunai slightly, but did not lower it. "Soka…What are you doing here?"

Kyoko's eyes had turned a steely grey-green. "I am on a mission, and don't have time to be meddling with weak Konoha Chuunin like yourself." Tenten's brilliant brown eyes narrowed. "Weak?"

Kyoko smiled. It was not friendly anymore. "I need to see the Hokage." Tenten hesitated. It was true that an outsider should be sent straight to Tsunade-sama anyways, and it looked like this Kyoko knew it.

"Alright, but I'm coming with you," he finally decided. She leapt into the air, landing easily onto a fat tree branch, and pushing off almost in the same move as landing. Kyoko wasn't far behind .Neither would admit it, but they raced almost all the way to the Hokage headquarters.

_Later On That Day_

"Ok, so some weird girl shows up and demands to see the Hokage, and now Tsunade's been locked up in her office all day with only Shizune and Kyoko?" Sakura shook her head. "It gives me brain pain to even fathom the possibilities."

Tenten snorted and flopped onto the couch. "Well, then I better not think either. Somebody with your IQ, it would possibly fry my brain."

Just then, there was a knock on the door. Hinata got up and answered the door, taking a peek at the small delivery man outside. He was jiggling his knees together and holding a clipboard, which rattled annoyingly inside his sweating palms.

"Er…delivery?" he said, teeth chattering even though it was perfectly warm.

Hinata allowed a small smile to creep around her features. "A-arigato!" She accepted a large, brown cardboard box from the man and gently clicked the door shut. The lock made a clicking noise as it settled into the doorframe.

"W-who ordered something?" the Hyuuga murmured, depositing the box on the floor. Muffled rattling was heard from within. Ino bent down and shook it, her ear pressed against the duct-taped flaps. "Hmmm. It's surrounded in bubble wrap."

With a kind of savageness that only children on Christmas day have, she tore open the box. Un-popped bubble wrap flew everywhere. Ino was surrounded in clouds of it. Nobody could see what she was doing.

At last, she emerged triumphantly, holding a smaller tin box decorated in strange designs. Sakura groaned. "Another box?" Ino smirked right back. "At least I got the bigger one open."

Breathlessly, they all watched as Ino lifted the twin metal clasps on the smaller box. None of them had ordered anything, so this had to be a gift from someone.

Inside the box were stacked neat rows of finger bones from some kind of mystical animal, each carved with readings on their five flat sides. Ino lifted out a worn piece of parchment with a loopy handwriting scrawled across it in deep green ink.

"Hmm…" she murmured, her eyes flying across the page.

The four girls swarmed around the box, each picking out a bone and studying it. "It's s-smoother than ivory," Hinata whispered, running an index finger wondrously over a bone with a triangle mark face up.

Sakura had her large, emerald eyes squinted slightly, studying the complicated design of her bone. It seemed to be a bow and arrow, but if you shifted it, it looked like a moon and a star.

Tenten sat cross legged and tried to read over Ino's shoulder at the directions. "It's some kind of tarot card-like game," Ino finally discovered, playing with some loose blond hairs next to the nape of her neck.

"Cool. How do you play?" Tenten wanted to know, pulling her crossed legs closer to her body. Ino shrugged. "Beats me. The directions are really complicated."

"Gimme that," Sakura muttered, snatching away the directions. Her eyes skimmed the kanji quickly, then snorted and tossed it aside. "We just toss the bones into the air. The way that they fall is what the reading is. All of the keys are on the BACK, Ino-pig."

Hinata grabbed a fistful of bones and tossed them high into the air.

They landed with a muffled thump on the carpet. The bones had landed in a rough parallelogram. In the top left corner were two bones, crossed into a perfect X. The one on the bottom had a Konoha symbol on it facing up. The one on top was blank.

Three more bones formed the other sides. They were the complicated pattern Sakura had been inspecting, a sun, and a picture of curling waves. Ino frowned, consulting the key. "Peace in Konoha, if we all work together. Prosperous times." She winked at Hinata. "I guess your hand is lucky."

_Before Bedtime_

The girls were gathered in Tenten's bedroom, each involved in their own little thing. Tenten was casually lain back on the bed, fiddling absentmindedly with one of her many stuffed pandas' ears. Sakura was intently reading a medic's manual, sitting on the green beanbag. Ino was painting her toenails in the middle of the panda-head-shaped rug. Hinata was playing with Ino's hair.

Tenten put aside her panda and gazed at the painting on her ceiling, the one that she woke up to every morning. It was a rough painting of a spring field that faded into the white plaster around the edges. She never knew who had originally put it there. It had been on the ceiling the day that the girls moved in.

She had chosen her room because of the peace she felt within herself when she looked at the picture. Cherry blossoms flew lightly across the waving tall grasses, the only thing that wasn't an earthy color in the picture. Sunlight shattered across the beautiful field.

It always invoked a deep feeling of longing within Tenten, like she had been there before but could never go there again. Once, she had woken up in the middle of the night and watched how the moonlight played patterns on the picture. Tears had slipped out of the corners of her eyes, but in the morning, she wondered if she had dreamed waking up.

Sighing, she rolled over and looked at the time. The clock blared 11 O'clock with its huge, defying black hands. "Guys, I think it's time to hit the sack," she murmured, tucking herself in. Ino looked up.

"Ok," Sakura yawned, tucking the medical scroll into her sash.

"See you guys tomorrow morning," Ino nodded, walking out of the doorway. The others filed out behind her.

Tenten hesitated, and glanced at the picture one last time before winking out her bedside lamp. Even in the dark, she could still see the cherry blossoms, vibrantly outlined in silver moonlight.

**A/N: Sorry for not updating so long. Please review! The next chapter should be more eventful.**


	3. Explanation

**A/N: Hello, everybody!**

**It seems like a lot of people don't really follow the story. The first two chapters in a nutshell goes something like this: Jiraiya, (AKA Ero-sennin), ordered for all eligible female Chuunin to be frozen. Then all the guys have to pick one as their date for the end-of-year Ninja Dance. Now, Ino's pissed off that she has to go with Shikamaru. Tenten goes out because she's annoyed, and discovers a strange girl named Kyoko, who's taken to Tsunade. When she gets back, a strange package of future-reading bones is sent to the girls. Before bed, Tenten reflects on the picture painted on her bedroom ceiling.**

**I will be putting in a "dictionary" of Japanese words after every chapter. Sorry if I confused anybody, I'm not Japanese either. It's just that I watch the show in Japanese and it feels weird writing dialogue in English…**

**Just to make it clear, I am an absolute fanatic about SasuSaku, so if I make that the dominating pairing, then I'm sorry…tell me if I'm slipping a little and doing that, OK?**

**Yeah. Well, I appreciate the reviews! Thank you!**

**Ages…  
The Rookie 9-17  
Team Gai-18  
Kakashi-31**

_The Perfect Place_

By: DewWater

"Anko-chan!!"

An overly delighted Kakashi paused a moment in the pages of Icha Icha to greet the raven-haired kunoichi. The watching Chuunins, namely Sakura, Ino, Tenten, and Hinata, grimaced and exchanged glances.

Mitarashi Anko had changed extravagantly over the past 4 years. She still looked the same appearance-wise, besides the fact that her curse seal was gone. Since Orochimaru's defeat, she was much happier and less, "kill everybody" mood.

Oh yeah, and her appetite for dango had increased dramatically.

She had cut the dramatic entrances, but with this case, she flung herself on Kakashi in a rib-cracking bear hug. Everybody in the room sweatdropped except said huggers.

Kakashi did his trademark eye-wrinkle that made most women swoon.

"No wonder Anko's in love with him…"muttered a girl behind them. Sakura giggled with her hands over her mouth at her former sensei. He had cleverly concealed the copy of Icha Icha behind his back. Anko despised the toxic orange book.

The female Chuunin were all gathered in a large room of the academy that had been leant to them. Anko was supposed to be explaining about the Ninja Dance, which Sakura had finished swooning about, but apparently that would have to wait.

Hinata was wiggling her fingers on top of the desk, her wide pearl eyes half-closed, feeling bored. "Yo, Hinata-chan…" whispered a mischievous voice behind her. Hinata blushed eight shades of red, and slowly turned around.

Naruto's blond hair had grown longer: not quite like Yondaime's, but longer than before so that the edges fell around his wide blue eyes. He looked like a child waiting for candy. Hinata turned more red, and replied softly, "Hai, Naruto-kun?"

The vessel of the Kyuubi grinned cheekily. "Since those two lovebirds won't be noticing us anytime soon, could you help me out?"

_Help me out?_

_Flashback_

"_Hinata, could you help me out?"_

_Hinata blushed hotly, twiddling her fingers and looking away. "Naruto-kun…go on a date with you…? I…"_

_Naruto shrugged, unperturbed. "It's OK if you don't want to. I'll just go ask Neji!"_

_Sakura and Hinata looked after the hyperactive blond, both wondering if he was insane._

_End Flashback_

Hinata smiled tentatively at her crush, her heart thumping hard. Was this another false call? "Er…what kind of 'h-help you out'?" she asked nervously. Naruto seemed to have realized his error, because he rubbed the back of his head and laughed nervously.

"Eh, no, not like a date…not that I wouldn't want to, you're very nice, Hinata!" he quickly shouted. "It's just that I didn't mean that!"

Unfortunately, Naruto tended to shout when he got excited, and was not standing, pointing a quivering finger at Hinata's nose. Sakura, Ino, and Tenten were all staring at Hinata, questioning gazes planted on their faces. The rest of the class seemed frozen in indecision: cough and pretend nothing had happened, or laugh…not with them, but at them?

Well, neither Hinata nor Naruto was laughing.

So the class decided that they should laugh in their absence.

_That Afternoon_

"What was _THAT_, Hina-chan?" Ino wolf-whistled, her bright blue eyes twinkling. Hinata blushed and fingered the edge of her coat nervously. "Eh, n-nothing," she stammered. "Naruto-kun was just bored, and he was wondering if…well…he never did s-say what he w-wanted, so…"

The young Hyuuga looked down at her ninja sandals, her face red as a tomato from the encounter with her lifetime crush.

Sakura smiled sympathetically and playfully punched Ino in the arm. "Aah, the joy of young love," she staged dramatically. "Let Hinata be." Tenten rolled her eyes as Ino and Sakura fell into giggles and Hinata nearly had a seizure from embarrassment.

"What is it with you guys and boys? In my opinion, they are all nuisances who underestimate the true power of a Konoha kunoichi," she sniffed, gazing up at the sky. Ino rolled her eyes at Tenten this time. "Well, I haven't seen you complaining about going to the dance with Neji."

Tenten failed to blush, but instead rapidly changed the subject.

"Hey guys, who's that?"

Around the corner was a familiar girl with long, fiery hair and a strange outfit and ninja shoes a tad too small. Her braid waved on the air from her momentum, and settled nicely on her hip.

"Show-off," Tenten muttered.

"Tenten-san!" called Kyoko. "I haven't had a chance to thank you for showing me to the Hokage headquarters."

_How does she know my name?_

She was stalking toward the four puzzled Chuunins now, the ninja sandals raising small clouds of reluctant dust from the ground. "Gomen, for my rudeness," she said bending her head the slightest bit.

Sakura smiled warmly. "Arigato, Kyoko-san, it's alright. I'm Haruno Sakura, a medic ninja under Tsunade-sama's training." Kyoko's eyes glinted eerily when she looked up at Sakura's name. "Haruno…Sakura," she repeated slowly.

The pink-haired kunoichi was puzzled. The luminous green eyes were lovely and color changing, but very different from her own faded emerald. They seemed familiar, but she couldn't place it where.

"Er, yes," she replied as calmly as she could. "Haruno Sakura."

"I'm Yamanaka Ino, and this is Hyuuga Hinata," Ino cut in, giving Sakura a searching gaze. "We're all Chuunin training here." Kyoko smiled, the eerie glint completely gone from her small, heart-shaped face.

"Soka."

There was a polite, frozen silence then. Kyoko suddenly flinched. "I take your leave…"

With that, she leapt into the rooftops. Ino shrugged and wrinkled her nose in distaste. "Oddling." Shrugging again, she continued to walk forward along the street, soon engaged with conversation at a small family shop with somebody who sold pretty flowered hair barrettes. Sakura could not so easily forget those eyes.

_With the Boys_

Naruto frowned, his arms behind his head as he walked. "Yade, yade! How troublesome!" Nara Shikamaru sighed and allowed a condescending sniff to come out from his nostrils. "Stop copying me, Naruto-dobe."

Sasuke smirked at Shikamaru. "And stop copying me."

Neji promptly ignored the entire thing. The foursome were winding down after the long hours in a room cooped up with everybody's favorite copy-nin and the world's biggest bigmouth, excluding Naruto.

"Hmmm…what do you want to do with life?" Neji suddenly asked out of nowhere. The other three turned to glance at him curiously. "Why suddenly all philosophical, eh, Neji?" Naruto remarked. Shikamaru snorted. "You're just concerned that you can't think enough to answer his question."

Naruto glared at him with narrowed eyes. "I want to open a ramen shop and cook ramen and eat ramen and watch ramen and smell ramen and…what?" The other three had sweatdropped. Shikamaru shook his head. "Dobe."

Sasuke rolled his eyes airily. "Troublesome," Shikamaru sighed, hoisting himself up. "A life full of ramen…hm. I want to marry a woman…" Sasuke smirked. "What else, genius, a man?" Shikamaru tactfully ignored the remark and continued. "…not ugly or beautiful, and have two children, a girl before a boy. Then I will retire once the girl's married and the boy has a job, spend the rest of my life playing Shogi and Go. Oh, and die before my wife. And avoid boiled eggs."

Naruto clicked his tongue. "Wow. You truly are an ordinary, ordinary person. What's the fun of that?" Shikamaru made a slightly annoyed expression. "Better than ramen."

"Not Ichiraku's."

Sasuke gazed at the sky, hands hanging limply into his pant pockets. He was dressed in the old blue shirt and shorts again.

"I haven't thought about my life in the long run…my planning ends at killing Itachi." Naruto made a complaining sound. "Yatte! I've planned better than Sasuke-teme!" Everybody else sweatdropped again.

"Erusai, Naruto."

Suddenly, an extremely distressed-looking genin rushed around the corner, his brown hair tussled and his face dirty. "The main gate's under attack!" he yelled.

The four looked at each other, and broke into a run.

**A/N: More eventful! Yay! Please review! Thanks.**

**Words to Know:**

**Suffixes:**

**Kun-usually used for boys in the teenage years**

**Chan-usually used for girls who are close friends**

**Sama-extreme respect**

**Teme-bastard**

**Dobe-idiot**

**San-used for somebody that you don't know well**

**Exclamations:**

**Yatte-yeah**

**Shannaro-hell yeah!**

**Hai-yes**

**Gomen-sorry**

**Arigato-thank you**

**Yade Yade-jeez**

**Other Words:**

**Masaka-impossible/could it be/it can't be**

**Nani-what?**

**Sensei-teacher**

**Kunoichi-female ninja**

**Shinobi-male ninja, or ninja in general**

**Ero-sennin-perverted hermit**

**Kyuubi-nine tailed fox**

**Hokage-most powerful ninja in Konohagakure**

**Konohagakure-Village Hidden in the Leaf**

**Jounin-Rank of Ninja**

**Chuunin-Rank of Ninja**

**Jutsu-technique**

**Erusai-shut up**

**Naruto-fish cake (when not talking about the character)**

**Chakra-spiritual energy**

**Sharingan-copy wheel eye**

**Hitae Ate-forehead protector**

**Nande-why?**

**Kai-release**

**Demo-but**

**Ja Ne-see ya!**

**Jyuuken-the Hyuuga style of fighting**

**Kunai-dagger**

**Soka-I see**

**Dango-type of candy**

**Shogi-game**

**Go-game**


	4. Talent

**A/N: I know the last chapter wasn't very long, and the "dictionary" at the end was huge because it was for the first THREE chapters and not just the third…I apologize, gomen!**

**This chapter will, (hopefully), be longer and full of fluffy cheese-sap. Or sappy fluff-cheese.**

**Anyways, it'll be full of that good stuff **

**-Dewwater**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto. I sure do wish I did though, being a writer…and Naruto being ingenious and all…except with the frickin fillers…**

_The Perfect Place_

By: DewWater

_Oh, Kami-sama, what now…?_

Sasuke had activated his Sharingan, complete with all three tomoe, and Neji had his Byakugan. "What do you see?" Shikamaru drawled lazily, even while running. Neji frowned, thinking hard and focusing. "Not much. Too much smoke." Sasuke groaned inwardly. Wonderful.

The front gate was truly a mess.

There was so much dust and smoke that visibility was near zero. Naruto and Shikamaru got lost pretty fast, wandering around and on a wary lookout for anything that might possibly impale them before their time. Sasuke and Neji were making better progress with their bloodline limits.

Neji was by the kiosk where the guards of the village usually stood, but was now dusty and vacated. He scanned the surroundings carefully in the black and white of Byakugan, noting many bodies at battle with kunais. But who was the enemy?

He didn't have time to think, because he was suddenly knocked over from behind. "What…I didn't see them with the Byakugan?" he thought faintly, as the air was knocked out of him…

And then…

"N-Neji? Is that you?"

_With Sasuke_

The Uchiha prodigy ran out through what seemed to be the gate, head turning every which way to try and see what was going on. He was disturbed from his lookout by a tall, burly nin that managed to nick him in the arm with a shruiken before he dodged the attack.

Before long, the two were engaged in full combat.

_Save time and use chidori, or fight it out and save chakra for later?_

It was a question he asked himself in almost every battle at one point. He decided that the nin wasn't worth using chidori on, and promptly managed to sink a kunai into his shoulder. While the man howled with pain, Sasuke hopped nimbly away.

A piercing scream cut through the air, nearly making him lose his footing when he landed.

_Sakura._

Fear so great that it was like a dash of pain through his chest rushed through him. Sakura was in trouble. He listened hard.

Silence, besides the occasional ringing of metal weapons against metal, and then the agonized scream that would follow. All masculine. No Sakura.

He didn't know why he was so worried. Sakura was a kunoichi: she could take care of herself. Sure, she had been his teammate. Still was now. He put it down to that, and went back to his search.

He found her near the opening of the gate, lying in a corner. He scooped her up bridal style and made out of the cloud, setting her gently down behind a small shop. She wasn't unconscious, but her arm was bleeding pretty badly.

Her green eyes were sliding out of focus. Not green. Brilliantly faded emerald. Sasuke checked her pulse. Going steady. He let out a breath of relief. "Sasuke…kun?" Sakura breathed. "Hn."

"Who did this to you, Sakura?" Sasuke gritted his teeth. Sakura smiled faintly. "Don't break his arms this time." Sasuke looked away.

"Don't do anything annoying while I'm gone," he replied stonily, and hopped away again. Sakura decided she felt too tired to stay conscious anymore. Unconsciousness was relief beyond relief.

_Later, at the Hokage Headquarters_

The 8 of the gang were sitting in a row in front of one big-busted 5th Hokage and her assistant. "Shizune, what're the statistics?" inquired Tsunade, sounding almost bored. "We're not sure. They were ninja, but not very well trained. Probably rogues."

Sakura had her arm tied up, and Naruto was sporting a few fresh bruises. Besides that, nobody was injured seriously. Tenten was red. Neji looked detached. "I can't believe you actually attacked me," he muttered. Tenten shrugged helplessly. "Gomen, Neji, for the last time! Visibility was zero in that kind of ruckus!"

Tsunade raised an eyebrow. "Tenten, you attacked Neji?" Tenten sighed. "Hai, Tsunade-sama, but it was only because-" Tsunade cut her off. "Neji, you couldn't see her through your Byakugan?" Neji almost flinched, and muttered, "She came at me at my blind spot."

The Fifth sighed, and stacked up a heavy load of paperwork. "Dismissed."

With groans and complaints of bone pain, the Chuunin rose up and walked to the doorway. "This calls for Ichiraku ramen," Naruto declared at the doorway. Shikamaru sighed. "For once, ramen is not troublesome. Let's go." Ino playfully punched him in the arm. "Shika, you lazy bum." Shikamaru indignantly rubbed the punched spot. "That hurt, woman!" Ino rolled her eyes and crossed her arms. "Erusai."

The eight of them sat in a neat row at Ichiraku's, each sporting a large, healthy bowl of ramen, even Neji. The seating arrangement had taken a while to decide, because neither Shikamaru nor Neji wanted to sit next to Naruto, and Naruto didn't want to be by Sasuke, and Ino wanted to sit by Shikamaru and not Naruto, and Hinata kept getting all shy whenever they asked her where she wanted to sit.

In the end, the order went: Neji, Tenten, Hinata, Naruto, Sakura, Sasuke, Ino, Shikamaru.

_With Ino and Shikamaru_

Ino peered into Shikamaru's bowl. "Oi, Shika, can I have your mushrooms?" Shikamaru sighed. "Take it. Just don't make me pick it up and put it all the way into your bowl." Ino rolled her eyes and used her chopsticks to pick up the tasty mushrooms. "Oh, haha, genius."

Her hand accidentally brushed against Shikamaru. Ino blushed hotly, and Shikamaru didn't seem to notice, if you didn't see the fingers on his other hand twitch involuntarily where they hung down by their side.

"Oh, you have a white hair," Ino teased, reaching over to pull it out from behind his ear. Her fingers lingered over the hollow of his cheek. Shikamaru pulled away more abruptly than he normally would have. Ino looked hurt. "What, you want to look like an old man? You're thinking too much again." Shikamaru didn't answer, and swirled his ramen absently.

"Ino, you look better with long hair," was his only comment over the next thirty minutes. Ino glanced up curiously, and chose to take it as a compliment.

_After Ramen_

Konoha seemed to be mad at its inhabitants, because no sooner were they done with the ramen and had paid for it, (that caused lots of squabbling, because most of them agreed that Naruto should pay for all of it, which of course he couldn't do), it started to pour cats and dogs.

Sakura sighed and propped up an umbrella, wincing as her arm twinged. "Why don't you guys sleep over at our house? It's bigger, and I will never ever sleep inside of your rat-infested flat as long as I have a will that lives."

"Hey!" Naruto protested.

It was settled. Umbrellas were propped up with the sound of stretching fabric, and the group progressed down the slippery stone paved streets toward the welcoming glow of street lamps that marked the girls' street.

"AIEEE!" Tenten slipped on a treacherous stone. She was expecting pain in the tailbone any moment when she realized that Neji had grabbed her around the waist. She nearly blushed, but knew that the others would never let her live it down, so refrained from doing so. It would have been romantic, if she hadn't been sopping wet and Neji hadn't looked like he had just grabbed a particularly nasty fly and had just had the satisfaction of smooshing it into pulp.

Without further problems, they made it to the house.

Sakura fumbled with the key, turning it into the lock and pushing open the door with a creak. "I forgot, you guys haven't been to our house yet, have you?" she said by way of conversation, leading the guests in.

Sasuke folded his umbrella with a _pop_. "Hn," he commented, ringing some of the water out of his spiky raven hair. "So…clean…" Naruto managed to gasp, drooling. "Not anymore, if you don't stop slobbering all over the carpet," Ino commented, pushing the dobe aside and flopping down on the couch.

"I could sure use a spa day now," she sighed. "Unfortunately, that would turn wrong pretty darn fast with our new guests."

Sakura glared at Ino mockingly, in a friendly way. "I have tried and failed to comprehend the way that your brain's gears function, Yamanaka Ino. I won't try again." Ino giggled and propped her feet up on the table in acknowledgement. "Whatever you say, forehead-girl, whatever you say."

"Who knows. If you don't behave yourself, we might be roasting the Ino-pig and eating pork tonight," Sakura joked. There were laughs all around, except for Neji and Sasuke, who remained silent. Even Hinata allowed a small, high-pitched giggle.

Hinata sighed. "It's g-going to be a long night…b-but I don't think that w-we should play with the t-tarot bones." The boys had been informed about the strange delivery and shrugged. Tarot was beyond them.

"How about this?" Ino suggested cheerfully, despite the threats that her friends would turn cannibal and eat her. "I'll get a top hat from upstairs, and we all write a special talent that we have that none of the others know about. Then, when we draw that talent out of the hat, the person who drew it has to guess who's talent that is. If they guess right, the person performs their talent. If they guess wrong…the person who drew has to try the talent!"

It sounded agreeable enough, except for one thing…

"Where'd you get a top hat from?" Shikamaru wanted to know, almost the smart aleck. Ino blushed. "Er, we put on a…talent show once." "Really. What kind of talent show?" said Naruto, completely clueless. "I DRESSED UP IN A TUX AND DID THE TANGO WITH HINATA, ALRIGHT?" Ino yelled, pink in the face. Hinata turned red and poured steam out of her ears.

Silence. Crickets.

"So, who's up for the game and some cookies?" Sakura said cheerfully. She was replied with muttering.

"Ok," was finally the unanimous response.

Once the tattered top hat was in the middle of the table, everybody ripped off a scrap of paper from what Ino offered and scribbled something on it. There were many nudges and indignant, "no peeking!"s.

Finally, all eight talents were in the top hat. Ino gave them all a conspiratorial wink.

She rooted around and finally pulled out a very sad-looking scrap of paper, and scrawled onto it in long hand that looked like somebody had thrown the pen at the paper was, "I can sleep while standing".

There were a few giggles.

Ino rolled her eyes. "I'm going to take a wild guess and say Shikamaru." Shika made a sarcastic gesture. "Wow, how did you know?"

"Could you demonstrate your talent please, mister?" Ino laughed into the palm of her hand. Shikamaru promptly stood up. They would have said he was faking, but he wasn't…he immediately dropped off, head lolling and snoring with drool trickling out and everything Naruto tickled him in the ribs. Nothing.

"OI! SHIKA!" Ino roared like a bull horn. Shikamaru snapped out of it. Everybody applauded, still giggling.

Shikamaru bowed. "Thank you, thank you. I have taken the true meaning of cowardice and laziness to whole new levels…my next invention will be-" "Ok, ok, enough of your brilliancy," Ino snapped good-naturedly. "Shikamaru needs to draw next."

Shika sighed and reached a hand into the top hat, pulling out a neatly torn piece of paper with loopy cursive-like script. "I can put my foot behind my head." He winced. "Ouch." Everybody laughed again.

"Er…one of the girls?" he suggested. The guys all rapidly agreed. "Uh…I dunno. Sakura?" Sakura was in a silent laughing fit. "No!" she finally gasped, emerging, mirth still spilling out of her lips. "Hinata!" "Hinata?" chorused the guys. Hinata nodded shyly. "Shika-kun, you have to try it since you guessed incorrectly," she pointed out.

Shikamaru's eyes widened in disbelief as Naruto roared in laughter.

He sighed and stood up. "How do I try this anyways?" he inquired. Hinata smiled slightly, her eyes shining with tears borne from laughing. "Just lift your foot and pull with your hands."

Shikamaru tried it, alright.

He also landed on top of Sasuke, who pushed him off and scrambled to get away. Shikamaru groaned on the floor, while everybody was half-concerned and half-entertained.

Hinata stepped up to the top hat and drew out another scrap. "I can recognize any color of nail polish by its specific name as soon as I look at it."

"A g-girl?" Hinata inquired. The girls all shook their heads, bewildered. "Nope. And we're not allowed to lie…" Tenten realized slowly…

"A _boy_?" Hinata exclaimed.

Neji looked extremely uncomfortable. "Neji-nii-san?" Hinata giggled slightly. Neji was looking about as uncomfortable as Neji the Ice Cube could get. "Er, yeah…"

Ino held out her hand. "What color?" she demanded. "Plum purple number four," Neji automatically replied without thinking. Ino looked amazed and Sakura howled with laughter. "My God, there's too much that we didn't know about each other before…"

Neji stepped up and pulled out a name, muttering to himself threats all the way.

"I can drink? What?" he read, puzzled. "Well, Hinata can sure cook a mighty meal. But she's already gone." He looked around. "It doesn't look like a girl's handwriting," he finally decided, analyzing the paper with Byakugan.

"What I conclude is…Uchiha Sasuke!"

Sasuke smirked sheepishly. "Well, the thing is, if you drip water onto your head and let the drops fall, I can catch every single one. It used to be a pastime of Itachi's and mine."

"Ooh, that's cool," Tenten muttered. "Somebody get some water!" When nobody moved, she grumbled and went to fetch it herself.

Once she got back, they made Sakura stand in the middle of the cleanupable linoleum and dumped water on her head. Sasuke gently rested his hands on her shoulders and whispered in her ear, "Try not to flinch. This might tickle a little."

The shock of his warm breath tickling her ear put Sakura into a stony stillness. Sasuke's lips brushed against her forhead, down the bridge of her nose…and landed again on her bottom lip, his tongue flicking out quickly to catch a drop of evasive water that dripped off of her chin.

The room had gone very quiet. Sakura was radiating heat. Sasuke looked unperturbed. "That…must have been a hobby you did when you were VERY bored. Who's head did you use?" Sasuke grinned. "My kaa-san's. It killed her whenever we dumped water on her, but she said it tickled when we used our fingers to catch the water."

"So why'd you use your tongue this time?" Naruto smirked.

Sasuke glared at him.

"None of your business, dobe. I felt like being original. There."

The lights had turned out when they realized that the sleeping arrangements still had yet to be made…

**A/N: Oooh, romance…Next time, a slumber party? Watch and wait for the fireworks to begin!**


	5. Slumber Party Part 1

**A/N: Woo! I'm on a roll!**

**(That doesn't happen too often, but once I am, I don't eat, I don't sleep, I don't drink, I don't pee…ETC). **

**I just write and write and write.**

**Thank you for all the short but lovely reviews! Er, if you have a problem with the story, like "I'm confused", please be more specific so that I can clear it up, and that'll be great!**

**Also, thanks for not totally hating the fic. I know that I'm not the best writer in the world, but it is really great when you try hard and not everybody goes, "Wow. This is crap."**

**ARIGATO DATTEBAYO!**

**(dunno if that's correct Japanese, but oh well…my lame excuse of a joke…)**

**-DewWater**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto. This chapter is not for old people or for the weak heart or people with no sense of humor, (Ex. Neji). YOU HAVE BEEN FORWARNED! (Wait…is that a word? shrugs)**

_The Perfect Place_

By: DewWater

"ARRGH! You just stepped on my foot!" Tenten groaned at whoever was the culprit in the pitch darkness.

It was, in fact, Sakura, who was trying not to amputate anybody's limbs by mistake and at the same time, making her way toward the elusive light switch. Her mind was a bit off at the moment, having just been so close to Sasuke. She wasn't a rabid fangirl anymore, but her feelings were the same.

Finally, her finger notched itself under the switch, and she quickly flicked it up. There were moans and "my eyes!" exclamations.

It looked like everybody had dogpiled on Naruto, who was a little worse for the wear as the squashed centerpiece of the room. He rubbed the back of his head, his blond hair sticking up every which way. "Er, right. I might be hyperactive and colorblind, but I'm not made of stone!"

That one got a few giggles.

"Now…the sleeping arrangements…"Ino and Sakura contemplated aloud at the same time.

"This is going to be even worse than the Ichiraku ramen seatings," Sakura admitted. Ino silently agreed, gazing at her sprawled friends. "We _can_ have guys and girls in the same rooms, but of course different bathrooms," Ino added in.

"We'll go by pairs," Sakura agreed. "That way, nobody's squished and the living room will be less crowded." "I'm not with Naruto," Shikamaru, Neji, Sasuke, and Ino chorused at once. Naruto pouted. "I feel so unloved," he complained.

Hinata blushed and looked away at this comment. What she would _liked_ to have said was, "Don't say that…" _but_ being the shy person that she was, refrained from muttering anything under her breath at all.

Sakura sighed. "Naruto, no offense, but I don't want to be with you either. You snore and you drool worse than Shikamaru, and you talk in your sleep." Naruto looked surprised. "I do?" Hinata giggled softly at the surprised expression on his face; totally innocent. "It's o-okay, I'll b-be N-Naruto-kun's double," she offered shyly.

Sakura smiled warmly at her friend, knowing full well how much of a bold move this was to her. "Alright. Anybody got objections?" In fact, there were far from objections. All three other kunoichis were looking admittedly smug and satisfied, and the boys either looked like they were anticipating how this pairing was going to turn out, or were completely uninterested, (Neji).

"That leaves Shikamaru, Ino, Sasuke, Neji, me, and Tenten."

Shikamaru glanced at Ino. _I want to be with her. But I don't want to be with her._

Little did he know that Ino was thinking the exact same thing.

"Okay, Tenten? Do you mind sharing your room with Neji?" Tenten shrugged. "Sure."

Sasuke and Shikamaru glared at each other, but not too hard. "Not with him," they chorused. Well, Sakura didn't want a masculine fist fight on her hands, so she held up her hands in surrender and said, "Alright, alright. Shikamaru, who do you want, me or Ino?"

Shikamaru made a "hn" sound. "It'll be Ino, if you don't mind, Sakura." Sakura smiled deviously, though nobody but Ino could tell it was meant to be devious. "Nope, don't mind at all." She winked at Ino, and mouthed, "You owe me an account in the morning." Ino smirked back, and mouthed, "You too!"

Sakura didn't realize what she meant until she realized that the only person she could possibly be paired with now was Sasuke. Pink tinged her cheeks. Sasuke seemed aloof like always, though his eyes were closed and a smirk was planted on his lips, his head tilted at that angle that always made Sakura want to stroke his cheek. She balled her hands into fists and sighed.

"Okay, who wants to help me get sleeping bags?"

_After the Main Set Up_

Pretty much everybody was settled in. Neji and Tenten were in Tenten's room, because it was probably the largest of the kunoichi's bedrooms, as hard as they had tried to make them as close as possible to equal. Ino and Shikamaru had the living room, where they had moved the coffee table into the hallway. Hinata and Naruto had laid out a rug in the kitchen, and put sleeping bags on top of that. Sakura and Sasuke were in the large sitting room upstairs.

"Okay! Since this is _technically_ a slumber party, we so _cannot_ go to bed at 7 O' clock," Ino declared, glancing at the clock casually. Shikamaru sighed. So troublesome. He would be up all night, and he usually needed at LEAST ten hours of sleep. Loud mouth Ino. Why had he ever just picked Sakura, who was much more quiet?

"YATTE! COOKIE TIME!" screeched Sakura.

"Nevermind," thought Shikamaru.

Apparently, even Hinata got on sugar highs sometimes. The eight of them trooped upstairs dutifully and grouped around the large table in the sitting room, sipping drinks and munching on Hinata's delicious homemade cookies.

The storm was only getting worse outside. Lightning tore streaks of light through the darkened sky. Rain poured down like the sound of rice when it spills on hard linoleum floor. Sakura shivered slightly. Ino tossed her a fleece blanket from the tub. "Anybody else?" she called, already wrapping a lavender one around herself. Everybody nodded, teeth chattering slightly.

"Ooh, I love these stormy nights!" Tenten commented. Neji looked out of the window distantly. "So do I. It makes me wonder how insignificant I truly am, compared to those huge, powerful thunder clouds." Tenten smiled slightly. "That's a perfect description of how I always feel." Neji turned to look at her. "Everybody is special in their own way, Tenten. You are too." That was probably the nicest thing that she would ever get out of Neji, so Tenten smiled and murmured a tentative, "Arigato, Neji-kun." Since when had the weapons mistress become tentative? Since Neji, that's when.

"Hmm. Should we get changed into our PJ's?" Sakura mentioned. Hinata blushed slightly. "W-what about the b-boys?" she asked. Ino pursed her lips. Tenten clacked her teeth. It _was_ a good point.

Naruto stretched and smiled, showing pearly white teeth despite all of the ramen food coloring. "No problem! Just give us a warm blanket, and we can all sleep in our boxers." Hinata turned very, very red at that thought.

Sasuke glared at Naruto. "You might, but I for one have no intention to sleep in my boxers. One, it's too cold. Two, have you no dignity?" Well, we all know what the answer would be to the second one. "Eh, iie?" Naruto replied. Everybody sweatdropped.

Shikamaru sighed. "The simple solution? Use a summoning jutsu!!"

That seemed like a good idea, so Naruto bit his thumb.

"Kuchiyose no Jutsu!" There was a blast of light, and lying there were the boys' PJ's. Naruto grabbed his hat and pajama bottoms, rushing off into a dark corner. Two seconds later? "OUCH!" Hinata giggled. "The b-bathroom's that way, Naruto-kun." "I knew that."

The other three made to quickly cover their own pajamas with their bodies and shuffled crab-style toward the other bathroom. Tenten rolled her eyes. "I don't get it. They'll be running around in their pajamas later on anyways."

Sakura stretched and felt something crack. "Well, I'm going to go get my pajamas too. Might want to turn in a little early today…" "WHAT?" chorused Ino and Tenten. Sakura cracked open one emerald eye and winked. "Just kidding."

The girls, too, shuffled off in different directions to grab their pajamas.

_A Little Later_

The eight of them were dressed in their pajamas.

Naruto was in his usual black T-shirt and pajama pants, complete with fuzzy hat. He sniffed the air, a confused expression on his face. "Hinata-chan, you smell like cookies!" he declared. Hinata blushed. "I d-do?" Naruto rubbed the back of his head, causing chunks of blond hair to fall into his face. "Uh huh."

Sakura raised an eyebrow. "Naruto, if you eat Hinata, I swear that I will punch you straight across Konoha." Naruto abruptly sat down. He didn't doubt that the threat was not an exaggeration.

Neji, in a baggy tan T-shirt and black cotton pants, laid back on the couch. Tenten blinked. "Why are we all just sitting here? Let's watch a movie or something." There was a unanimous vote.

Sakura went to the tall cabinet standing in the corner of the sitting room carved into the shape of a tree. The next moment, DVD's were flying everywhere. Everybody dodged as Tenten and Hinata scrambled to put them into order.

It was decided that first the boys would go through the humungous pile and eliminate all the ones they definitely didn't want to watch, then the girls would go through the remaining DVD's and do the same.

There were five candidates remaining, and after a whole lot of argument, decided that they really didn't want to see a movie after all.

"How about this," Ino suggested. "Hinata and Sakura will make more cookies and get more drinks, and the rest of us will work on something on our own."

After this, she brought out some sudoku, magazines, nail polish, (Neji stared hungrily at the bottles), and brought the top hat from downstairs. It was still slightly awkward with everybody in their pajamas.

Tenten was in a baggy dark blue T-shirt that read "BAKA" and an arrow. Currently, the arrow pointed at Neji. She also had baggy cotton black pants that reached just below the knees. She rubbed her fuzzy-socked feet together, feeling bored even for a slumber party.

"I'll paint your nails," Neji suddenly mentioned.

Tenten jumped about a mile. "AIIE, Neji-kun! Don't do that!" she complained. Neji fell silent again. "Wait. Did you just offer to paint my nails?" Tenten laughed, realizing the true absurdity of it all. Neji stuttered. "Well, there's nothing better to do." "Well, I could paint your nails," Tenten suggested.

Neji bit his lip and shut up.

Suddenly, he picked up Tenten's right hand and studied it closely, turning it over occasionally. Tenten was surprised. "Er, Neji-kun?" "Hn," said Neji, continuing to inspect. "You have good hands for painting," he finally concluded, sitting back again and releasing her hand. Her flesh seemed to burn where he had touched it.

"Er, arigato…"

_Hinata and Sakura in the Kitchen_

It was slightly spooky downstairs, with all the lights turned out and the thunder booming ominously outside. Rain continued to fall even harder, as if Konoha was crying for a reason too secret for anybody else to know. The plants, however, were rejoicing.

Hinata had just popped a fresh batch of cookies into the oven, sweating slightly from the high intensity of heat. "You know, we r-really shouldn't be u-using the oven during a s-storm, Sakura-chan," Hinata mentioned. Sakura smiled nervously. "Hm. I suppose not. This'll be the last batch, then. Good thing there's a lot on the baking platter."

She took down another spare cup from the cupboard and poured it full of apple juice. "Oi! WHO WANT'S MILK?" she bellowed up the stairs, making Hinata flinch. "I DO!" Naruto roared back. Sakura shrugged and poured the smooth white liquid into the tiniest cup that she could find and giggled. "He never said how much."

Hinata looked down and twiddled her fingers. "Ah, thinking of Naruto-kun again, eh?" Sakura teased. Hinata blushed. Sakura sighed and peeked at the browning cookies. "You should really let him know how you feel, Hina-chan. I mean, the blockhead will be forever clueless unless you do."

Hinata bumped her heel against the cupboard absently. "I g-guess not…"

Sasuke came down the stairs at that moment. Sakura nearly fainted. Sasuke in his pajamas…she probably would have been out like a log, if not for the blaring heat from the oven that seared her face.

The Uchiha prodigy was garbed in a white T-shirt and long black shorts. He rolled his eyes at the oven. "Why didn't you just ask me to use a fire jutsu or something?" he muttered, pulling out a chair. Sakura rolled her eyes back at him. "You'd burn them black."

Sasuke shrugged. "Hn."

_Ding_.

Sakura donned the oven mitts and pulled out the cookies. "Mmm…" she murmured as the aroma wafted into the air. Sasuke's nose twitched. Hinata laughed softly. "We made a tomato cookie for you, Sasuke."

Sasuke raised an eyebrow. "Tomato cookie?" Sakura chuckled. "It was Hinata's idea. Who knows, maybe it'll taste good." She continued to troop up the stairs. Sasuke and Hinata followed suit with the drinks.

Seeing as they were so bored, they rested the refreshments on the table, where they were instantly attacked. Sasuke grabbed the reddish tomato cookie, and sighed. "Do I really have to eat this?" A twitch appeared on Sakura's forehead. "Ok, ok!" Sasuke quickly amended, realizing that an appearance by Inner Sakura in the middle of the night should probably be avoided.

He took a bite and grimaced horrifically, all the while trying to hide the popping vein in his forehead. "Is it good?" Hinata asked hopefully. Sasuke's eyes abruptly turned into huge stars. "It's too GOOD!!!" he yelled.

Everybody stared. Sasuke, yelling a compliment? What had Hinata _put_ in that mysterious cookie? Then again, it did have tomato in it. Sasuke worshipped tomatoes.

"Ooh, I have an idea!" Sakura declared. Everybody turned to look at her. "We'll play hide-and-seek!"

**A/N: Shorter than the last one, but hey, the last one was amazingly long for me. Please review! And thanks for the compliments! The slumber party WILL GO ON…**


	6. Slumber Party Part 2

**A/N: I am continuing on my roll! The only thing that I don't like about my rolls is that when I update quickly in a row, people tend to give one really, really tiny review at the end of three or four chapters. I'm fine with just one review, it's just that if you liked it, I like to hear what you liked. If you have flames, then don't just scream "I HATE IT", tell me what has you pissed off.**

**Anyways, for the most part, thank you so much for the reviews! It's so motivational!!**

**And my dad just found the "real" TV remote. At last.**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto, and I am most certainly not the inventor of tarot, slumber parties, ramen…I might be, however, the inventor of tomato cookies **

_The Perfect Place_

By: DewWater

Shikamaru sighed and leaned back against the edge of the extremely soft sofa.

"Hide and seek? Troublesome." Sakura sweatdropped. "Well, of course it would be troublesome for all of us if Shikamaru the Genius was It. He would analyze our hiding techniques and pinpoint exactly where we were all hiding by the sound of our footsteps before he even started counting! Therefore, we need to make the game…harder."

Neji raised an eyebrow. "…Harder? As in variation to the original manuscript?" "Yeah, what he said," Tenten chirped. Neji pretended she'd never said anything. Sakura shrugged. "I dunno. I'm just squirting out ideas. I'm open to any and all suggestions."

For a moment, the room fell silent.

"You know what I always hated about hide and seek? When people cheated," Naruto finally burst out. "When they were counting, they would peek, or when they were sure everybody was out of earshot, they stopped counting and just left their post. Or when everybody targeted one person. It sucks when one person's It all the time."

The rest of them agreed, so it was decided that one person would stay, hidden nearby, with It. They made sure It counted all the way to the set number, and then got fifteen extra seconds if they wanted it.

It would also be blindfolded. If one person was It more than twice before everybody had gone at least once, that person did not have to be It anymore until everybody else had gone.

"No more than two people in one hiding spot," Tenten declared. "What's the fun when you kick a bed or something and everybody rolls out from underneath? It makes you feel like you missed out on something really fun."

Ino nodded wisely. "Yeah, and no ratting other people out. The first person that It finds, and the others for that matter, cannot give It hints about where their comrades are hidden if they know, even if It is standing right in front of them or something and doesn't notice."

"No jutsus," Hinata added in with a small voice. "It wouldn't b-be fair if I u-used my Byakugan, or Neji-nii-san and Sasuke."

"You can't move around," said Shikamaru lazily. "Once you're in a spot and It has stopped counting, you can't move. Also, mask your chakra to make it harder and try to be as silent as possible."

Naruto shook his blond mane. "Alright, enough rules! My head hurts!"

Everybody laughed.

"There should be some kind of punishment other than being It for the last person to be found," Neji pondered. They looked at each other. It sounded like a good idea. "How about they have to do a dare?" Sasuke suggested. Sakura shrugged. "Yoshi, yoshi. Naruto's right, those are enough rules. Let's get started!"

Shikamaru was chosen to be It, because it was easiest for him. The rest of them got in a group huddle, and Neji was chosen to be the It guard. As soon as Shikamaru started counting, they all hid their chakra and were off, Neji hidden nearby, attached to the roof by the palms of his hands and the soles of his feet.

_Naruto and Hinata_

Hinata wasn't sure where she should hide. Behind the bathroom door? Nah, it creaked. She didn't want to go downstairs again, because it was so dark. She started to panic once Shikamaru reached 15 seconds, the halfway point.

Coincidentally, she spotted Naruto zooming around the corner, and decided to hide with him. It couldn't be so bad if she was found, anyways, and she had nowhere better to hide. She quickly followed the tail of his hat before she could lose him. He was headed toward her room!

Turns out he had wiggled under the bed. "N-Naruto-kun?" she murmured softly. "Daijoubu?" Naruto was making painful noises. "No, I'm OK. Do you want to hide with me?" was his muffled reply. "Hai," Hinata murmured, and rolled under the bed too.

It was dusty, musty, and not very overall-pleasant under her bed. It had been a while since the dust bunnies had been chased out, and Hinata's long raven hair snagged on the metal framing of her bed. She could feel Naruto's body heat this close, but she wasn't sure if she was blushing or just really squished.

"Hina-chan?"

Naruto's fingers wrapped around her wrist. "Is that you?"

Hinata was sure that she was blushing this time. "Hai, N-Naruto-kun." She could almost feel Naruto's wide, exuberant smile. His fingers tightened around her wrist. "Good. It's nice to have another person in the dark." Hinata silently agreed, quietly absorbing the dusty moment.

_With Shikamaru and Neji_

Neji wrinkled his eyebrows on the ceiling, still focusing chakra into his hands and feet, realizing that if he fell right now, not only would it be painful, it would be highly embarrassing. Shikamaru had reached thirty, and then muttered, "Starting the count for the extra fifteen…Neji."

They had blindfolded the genius, and Neji wasn't surprised that Shikamaru knew who he was. He nimbly vaulted off of the wall, not really sure why he was playing such a child's game anyways. He resisted the strong urge to use some serious Byakugan, and ran full out down the staircase.

Where to hide?

The Hyuuga prodigy already had that part all figured out. "5…6…7…" Shikamaru's voice rang loud and clear down the staircase. Neji's pearl-white eyes narrowed. Not much time left. He was treating this like he would a mission: don't waste time, stay on track, and be alert for danger, (in this case, Shikamaru's finished counting).

At last, he reached the kitchen, skidded around a corner, and even though he knew it would be freezing, lay down on the linoleum under a table…

_With Tenten_

Tenten had chosen to create a bunshin of herself hiding behind the sofa, and instead crouched inside of the fireplace behind the grate.

The fireplace was dusty and charcoal-filled, but not much of it was loose. Tenten's feet were turning black and she would have to mop them up later, but not much else was going to get dirty. Hey, her pants were black anyways, weren't they? She smirked to herself, confident that even Shikamaru could not find her here.

Through the tiny netting of the fireplace grate, she wasn't able to discern much in the darkness. It was mainly all the same shadowy black-gray color, blending together into large shapes that must have been immobile furniture.

Upstairs, she _was_ able to hear the sound of Shikamaru finishing his count. Not long now. Her tensed limbs shivered in anticipation, and Tenten ducked her head into her knees, arms looped around her legs.

If she was It next turn, she would be extremely angry. After all, she wasn't sitting in the fireplace on top of charcoal that was killing her behind for nothing!

_With Sasuke and Sakura_

Sakura had dashed into the large main bathroom upstairs. She was hidden behind the double doors of the walk-in closet when she heard somebody else enter the bathroom. It couldn't be Shikamaru already, and she had a hunch that it wasn't Neji, so it must be somebody else coming to hide here.

The person walked through the double doors. A smell hit her nostrils that made her rather heady: it smelled like tomatoes. "S-Sasuke-kun?" she murmured. She sensed Sasuke flinch, forgetting that she had her aura concealed.

"Sakura?"

He peeked behind her doorway, his charcoal black eyes eerie in the dark. Eyes of an avenger. Sakura couldn't ever imagine being afraid of Sasuke, but now she felt a tremor run down her spine. The eyes softened slightly around the corners. "Is it alright if I hide behind the other door?" Sakura nodded speechlessly.

She heard the rustle of his pajamas as he stationed himself behind the other door, and breathed easier again.

"_Sasuke-kun_…"

_With Shikamaru Again_

Shikamaru had finished counting up to thirty, and then fifteen more, (forty-five), and was growing rather bored. It was already too late in the night for him, around nine, and he was tired. "Ah, troublesome. Women."

He wandered aimlessly into the room immediately right of his wall. Even in the dark, he could discern that this was one of the girl's bedrooms. It didn't seem like something of Hinata's or Tenten's, so it must be either Ino's or Sakura's.

He shrugged, and stood in the middle of the room. "Anybody here?" he drawled. No answer. It was worth a shot.

Since there was plenty of shadow in the room, he could have used the Shadow Limitation in all directions, and make some kind of loud noise, and therefore, figure out if anybody was in here with him. Unfortunately, there were no jutsus allowed. He sighed. "Mendokesai."

He heard a faint giggle emit from behind a massive mound of pillows on the bed. "_Ino_."

"Wow, I wonder who that could be," he drawled in his most sarcastic voice. Unfortunately, whatever Shikamaru attempted to express with his voice, it still came out sounding like he was asleep.

Ino exploded with laughter and jumped out from behind the pillows. "Fine. You got me." They wandered out of the room casually, and stepped into the next room, Hinata's. There was no aura or sound in this room, nor any obvious hiding places. "Split up and search," Shikamaru mouthed.

Ino was the one who thought to check under the tall bed. She immediately touched somebody's arm and nearly screamed. Hinata's head poked out from under the sheets. "Ino-chan?" Ino fainted, out cold.

Shikamaru heard the thunk when she hit the floor and was in time to see Hinata and Naruto crawling out sheepishly from under the bed. Hinata looked genuinely sorry to have scared Ino so much. Shikamaru, however, was not so sympathetic. "So troublesome. She even manages to pass out while playing hide and seek."

He picked up Ino, ("She's gotten heavier…"), and set her down on Hinata's bed. They decided that this would be a good reason to call a timeout. "Ollie ollie oxen free!" Naruto roared. His voice probably would have shaken the walls. There were groans of relief coming from all over the house.

"Ino passed out," Naruto explained to Sakura as she curiously stepped into the room. She sighed. "Man, Ino's almost as bad as I was during the genin test these days." Sasuke smirked. "I doubt it. My severed head? Yade, yade…" Sakura was blowing steam out of her ears, but fortunately, the prospect of an out-cold Ino distracted her from strangling Sasuke this time.

"Can we just leave her this way? At least I'll be able to catch a wink of sleep tonight," Shikamaru grumbled, nevertheless stepping aside for Sakura.

The edges of the medic nin's lips twitched slightly as she summoned up a ball of green chakra and pressed it into Ino's forehead. Ino moaned and cracked open her wide, sky-blue eyes. "AIIIEE!" she screamed, seeing as Sakura's wide green eyes were very close to her face. She promptly fainted again.

"Kami-sama…"Shikamaru groaned.

**A/N: Since you're not allowed to answer individual reviews in the fanfiction, here's what I'll say.**

**I know I can get carried away with fillers sometimes, so poke me if I do. Thank you for liking the SasuSaku! And also, painting Tenten or Neji's nails might just come up in the future. Overall, thank you for at least not totally disliking my fic. Thanks for correcting my spelling! I'm not very good yet with Japanese spellings…**

**I believe it is also time for another "dictionary", so here it is…**

**Iie-no**

**Urusai (correctly spelled this time)-shut up**

**Yoshi-OK, let's go/OK**

**Kami-sama-God**

**Mendokusai-Troublesome, (at least, I think…that's probably another one spelled wrong)**

**Nii-san-respected older brother**

**If I missed anything, feel free to say so!**

**Thank you.**


	7. Slumber Party Part 3

**A/N: Hi! I think the roll is wearing off, but that doesn't mean it's going to be one-update-a-year thing from here on! I have way too much support from you guys for that! Thank you SO much for supporting the fiction and offering your ideas/comments/flames/praise and all that jazz! I just realized that this fiction is in TWO C2s!! Ah, but that is important to me! And in rational terms, it's got more hits than any of my other stories ever. And it's all because of you guys!**

**Well, I hope that I never disappoint you too much…**

**Here goes this next chapter! I never thought the slumber party sequence would last so LONG!! Also, I'm really sorry for the slow update, it's just that school started again and all, what with the homework and early waking up stuff.**

**Disclaimer: No own Naruto. Ugga. Bugga.**

_The Perfect Place_

By: DewWater

Sakura sighed, her chin in her hands and looking rather dejected. "Aiya…"

Her pink hair was in disarray. She was leaning on the edge of Hinata's bed, watching Ino for signs of recovery. The rest of them were sprawled in corners of the room, feeling the sugar rush wearing off slowly as they waited for Ino to come back to earth, where she was supposed to be.

Ino blinked blearily. The ceiling came blurrily into focus, then sharper. She blinked again and groggily raised her arm to rub her eye. "Huh? What happened?" she moaned, sitting up abruptly and feeling the room spin. Sakura resisted the urge to giggle. "You passed out upon seeing my face. Tell me the truth, do I really look _that_ bad?"

The blond kunoichi smiled. "Why, but of course, forehead-girl!"

_One Hour Later_

After Shikamaru nearly cart wheeled down the steps from being half-asleep on his feet, ("Curse his darned talent," muttered Ino), they decided as a whole that it was time to turn in for the night. They each headed in their separate directions, groaning and stretching. Naruto complained loudly about his drooping eyelids to Hinata. Tenten giggled.

_In the Living Room_

Ino slithered into her sleeping bag, letting out a contended purr when she wiggled her ice-cold toes into the fleece plaid that lined the inside. She tossled around for a bit, finding a good place to settle down, and then struggled to bring up the black zipper hanging elusively out of the side of the fat bag.

Shikamaru sighed and pulled it up for her without much trouble. Ino sighed, and smiled at him. "Arigato, Shika-kun." Her brightly blond hair reflected off of the faint moonlight shafting through the window, making it glow like undiscovered silver. It was fanning out, since she had taken it out of her pony.

Her jeweled sky-blue eyes looked like pale sapphires, glinting in her pale porcelain face. Shikamaru shrugged, suddenly not wanting to feel the way that he did, muttering something about "troublesome", and sat down on top of his own sleeping bag, toying with the zipper.

Ino raised a surprised eyebrow. "I thought you said that you couldn't stay awake a moment longer, you lazy bum!"

Shikamaru threw a mock glare in her direction. "I am. But I figure that if we're going to be room-buddies for the night, I might as well stay awake. I won't be able to get to sleep." A sweatdrop appeared on both of their heads.

"Well, if you want to sleep that badly," Ino murmured, sounding injured. Her voice that way made Shikamaru ache inside. He didn't show any reaction, however, just gazed at the blank ceiling, his eyes slightly out of focus, with his arms crossed and featuring the same bored expression as always.

"I'll play guard monkey then," he stated, a hint of sharp sarcasm leaning into his voice. Ino rolled over, so that her face was facing him, propped up by her hand.

She frowned, the corners of her pale pink lips turning down at the corners just ever-so-slightly, only enough that somebody who knew her well could tell. Shikamaru could, and he didn't like it. "Why are you doing that?" he drawled.

Ino frowned further. "Doing what?"

"Frowning. I like you better when you smile, because that means that you're not about to turn me or Chouji into a bloody pulp."

Now she was smiling again, looking happy, her pale face illuminated from the inside in a way that the moonlight did not display it. Shikamaru's breathing clenched and then released for the briefest second. "Why were you frowning?" he irked out casually, now zipping the sleeping bag up and down.

Ino shrugged. "No particular reason. I do that when I'm thinking, sometimes." Shikamaru raised an eyebrow. "Pray tell, what were you thinking about, a brain as small as yours and you with your fists of iron?"

The blond kunoichi glared at her teammate. "Kami-sama! Shikamaru, you really do know how to make a girl feel bad."

With that piercing statement, she rolled over and promptly slowed her breathing to a steady pulse, so that it seemed like she had fallen fast asleep within a manner of minutes.

It left Shikamaru to gaze at the quietly ticking wall clock, which now displayed "11:30 PM" with its two large hands.

He was tired beyond belief. His eyes were drooping, his stomach felt empty, and his mouth was fuzzy and dry. He wanted to just give in to slumber and sleep quietly forever and ever, but something was keeping him up, a gut instinct.

Something was keeping Nara Shikamaru from his beauty sleep…and his intuition was always dead on.

_In the Kitchen_

To Naruto, sleeping on the cold floor with only a rug and a sleeping bag didn't suit him too well. He pouted, but refrained from complaining loudly. Hinata didn't seem like the kind of person who took loud mouths well, and even the dobe realized this.

He carefully untied his hitae ate and laid it on the dining table. He rubbed his forehead, where there was no doubt a red mark where the metal plating had been, and frowned slightly. "Itchy," he said.

Hinata looked up from where she was unrolling her tightly rolled sleeping bag. She was struggling with the straps, which no doubt Sakura with her monstrous strength had tied. "N-Naruto-kun…do you want some salve for y-your forhead?" she whispered softly.

Naruto grinned widely. "No problem, Hina-chan!"

Then, he noticed the persistent sleeping bag, and promptly snapped it open. "OW!" he yelled, loud enough for Shikamaru to yell back to shut up from the next room. The strap had snapped his hand when it came off.

"N-Naruto-kun! Daijoubu?" Hinata asked anxiously, her pearly eyes wide. Naruto grinned wider. "A little burn wouldn't stop a Hokage!" Hinata smiled slightly, and handed him some salve. "T-That will make it feel better," she explained.

Naruto opened the lid of the salve, sniffed suspiciously, and shrugged, dabbing it on the burn. "Thanks!" He replaced the lid and handed it back to Hinata, who blushed slightly as their fingertips brushed together.

The loud mouth laid back with his hands behind his head contentedly on his sleeping bag, gazing at the tiny glass window in the middle of the kitchen ceiling. Through it, he detected a small patch of night sky with shining silver, softly glowing stars for studs through the ebony black.

It felt like the little patch of sky was being loaned just to him for the night, as if it knew that he needed just the sense of belonging, that he possessed something besides the clothes on his back.

Hinata had tentatively laid down too, and was trying to watch Naruto without making it look like she was watching him. He paid no heed to her, looking up at the ceiling window. She smiled slightly, seeing the wondering expression on his face.

It was moments like this where she had no doubts whatsoever about loving Naruto. It was also moments like these that she felt that overwhelming sense that she had picked the right person, that first day in the Academy, and that she couldn't ever have more reasons for falling in love with Konoha's so-called number one failture.

_Up in the Sitting Room_

Sakura had fallen fast asleep, her pastel locks strewn angelically around her heart-shaped face, almost as soon as her head touched the pillow.

Sasuke was left up to brood, watching his teammate's back rise peacefully and methodically up and down as she breathed. He knew that he should be getting some sleep, but the way that Sakura's pale pink locks fell around her shoulders fascinated him.

The complexity of the pattern was unfathomable; he felt like it was a labyrinth that he could not penetrate, the thoughts and feelings that truly resided in the heart of the only kunoichi he had ever been close to.

Suddenly, Sakura shifted.

It was small, but Sasuke noticed. The next moment, she had let out a soft cry of anguish. He thought he had imagined it, and so, fell back into his peaceful brooding. Then it came again, the barely audible cry of pain.

She was having a nightmare.

He raised his hand and gently shook her shoulder, whispering, "Sakura! Wake up!"

She tossed and turned, finally opening her eyes. Sasuke looked at her, really looked at her, those lovely emerald orbs. He had never noticed how they glowed with soft light in the moon. Right now, they were brimming with unshed crystalline tears, her hair stuck to her forehead.

Suddenly, she threw herself at Sasuke and hugged him tightly, her face pressed into his shoulder. Sasuke stiffened immediately, and didn't react in time to push her away. The sound of her violent sobs racked her frame. Awkwardly, he put his arms around her too.

"Don't leave, ever again, OK?" Sakura sobbed. "Don't go back to Orochimaru, don't ever leave me again!" Sasuke stiffened even more. Had he really caused her so much pain when he had left, just because of her stupid infatuation with him? Besides, Orochimaru was _dead_…no, not dead, he reminded himself. Just defeated. He's still out there somewhere.

Sakura had grabbed fistfuls of his PJ T-shirt. Her salty tears leaked down the front, tickling his neck. He didn't mind.

"I won't leave again," he said, sounding slightly irritated.

Sakura looked up, tears still trickling down her face. Sasuke unintentionally caught the ones that dripped off of her chin with his finger. Sakura smiled slightly, still tearful. "Is that a promise?"

Sasuke hesitated.

"I…I p-promise."

_In Tenten's Room_

Hyuuga Neji really wished that Tenten was not in the same room as him. He also really, REALLY wished that she didn't have so much of Ino's nail polish lying around, as if purposely taunting him.

"Troublesome," he muttered, all the while reflecting that he was spending too much time around Shikamaru.

Tenten was half asleep, and so was he, though he would never admit it. The night's events had tired him out in a way that sparring never had. He was exhausted in every way, and was of the opinion that sleep was the best gift ever granted to mankind.

The weapons mistress rolled over and elbowed Neji in the stomach. Hard.

The air was knocked out of him. "Even in her sleep?" he thought, surprised, gently prying the elbow from his gut. He winced, knowing that he would find a large bruise there in the morning. This felt like the time that the Curry of Life was poured unwillingly down his throat and the liquor had nearly burned a hole in his stomach for the next two days. Or, at least that's what it had felt like.

Then Tenten rolled over and whacked him with her fist squarely across the jaw.

Neji stared, involuntarily bringing his hand up to his face. "Is she doing this on purpose?" he wondered. "What did I do?" Just while he was reviewing what he could possibly have done in the last 24 hours or so to offend Tenten and had come up with the 10th possible reason, he noticed that Tenten's eyes were closed.

"Ah…she's dreaming. Or she's just a violent sleeper," he decided.

He promptly pinned her arms, (not too hard…), behind her back and tied them loosely with a spare pillowcase there, and rolled her over so that she was comfortable.

WHACK!

The double-club of arms hit him on the chin.

"Kuso!" Neji muttered under his breath. It was going to be a long night.

_In General Narration_

"AIIIEEE!!"

There was suddenly a scream from downstairs that woke everybody up. Four bodies from upstairs and two from the kitchen charged into the living room, where the scream sounded like it had come from.

Shikamaru was looking stunned, sitting in the middle of the room amid shattered glass and some of his own blood that dripped from a gash in his shoulder. Everybody halted in their tracks.

"Where…where's Ino?" Sakura whispered.

**A/N: A little twist there! It will all make sense in time…I promise…crosses fingers…**


	8. Kidnapped

**A/N: I'm sorry if I kept you guys waiting!**

**I think I'm going to be writing another Naruto ficlet soon about our FAVORITE Rookie 9 and Team Guy, I've already got the plot pretty much thought out. And when the voices in my head, borrowed from Halo.at.heart, start persistently wailing…a fiction with twisted humor awaits!**

**Disclaimer: Don't own Naruto. Do own Kyoko. Lack of vocab. Grunt. Machine gun.**

_The Perfect Place_

By: DewWater

"Oh, Kami-sama…" Sakura groaned and dropped to her knees.

Little trickles of blood leaked out between her fingers as she squeezed the jagged edge of a glass shard. "Ino…" Her emerald eyes were wide with fear, astonishment, and shock, she hugged herself tightly, still clutching the glass as if it were a barrier against cruel reality.

Tenten, on the other hand, was reacting differently. With a roar of pure fury, she stomped her foot down on the linoleum. Even without Sakura's superhuman strength, Tenten could really make a statement when she was beyond the point of no return with fury.

"It was that to-be-damned Kyoko girl, I know it!" she roared.

Everybody flinched. Tenten never swore, she believed that it was an unnecessary way to solve problems, and extremely immature. Her normally kind brown eyes brimmed with fury and unshed tears of anger.

"I never should have sent her to Godaime-sama…" Tenten muttered, turning away. "It's all my fault. I know it was her, I've just got that gut instinct." Hinata tentatively put a trembling hand on her friend's shoulder. "It's a-alright, Tenten-chan, n-nobody's to b-blame…" The poor girl was stuttering even more than usual.

Her wide pale eyes seemed frightened, but she was shaking less than Tenten, who was bent over the table, still breathing hard from her outburst.

Out of everybody, Neji seemed calmest as usual.

"Byakugan!"

The Hyuuga prodigy wasn't able to see much, even with the strong bloodline trait ability. All seemed as it normally would, besides the broken window, and everybody looking like an earthquake had just shook their lives. He shook his head and was about to deactivate the Byakugan when he noticed an innocent object just lying in the corner…

"Hn."

He walked carefully over to it barefoot on the glass shards, using chakra to protect his feet. He picked it up gingerly, inspecting it carefully lying in the palm of his hand. At last he looked up, his Byakugan eyes narrowed. Tenten looked up slightly, and for a moment, their eyes met.

What Neji's eyes expressed told her just as she had theorized: Kyoko. He had taught her all about how people's eyes could tell you exactly what was going on in their soul, no matter what the heart or the mind or the mouth declared. Besides, she had known Neji since forever and a day…

Shikamaru was still sitting there in the middle of the glass, his normally unexpressive eyes like dull stones. He looked something past dead, if you take the meaning. Naruto, loud mouth that he was, somehow got the impression that he should yell as loud as he could to fill the silent gap.

"Oi! Lazy bum!"

Hinata tentatively put her hand on his arm, turning red even in the circumstances. "N-Naruto-kun…I think w-we should best l-leave Shika-kun alone f-for now."

Sakura snapped to her senses and shakily stood up from her position at the edge of the glass mess. She released the glass and promptly healed herself.

Walking toward Shikamaru, she studied his expression carefully. Shock. Temporary…at least she hoped so. If this was another memory-loss thing like with Menma, then she was going to collapse and cry her eyes out.

She was relieved when the genius looked up, still looking all the world like he had just died. The gash in his shoulder had finished pumping blood, but small trickles were still sliding down his forearm, and it looked nasty. After a quick inspection, the medic kunoichi was glad to see that it was only a shallow cut.

"Shikamaru, we need you to tell us what happened," she said gently. Though Ino was her best friend, she knew how differently Shikamaru was feeling the impact…as if it were his fault.

"Kuso…troublesome women," he croaked softly, his hands shaking as he assumed his favorite thinking position. Sakura smiled wearily and allowed him five minutes to ponder over the events.

The genius's eyes snapped open only thirty seconds later, however.

"Tenten, that Kyoko girl was from Sunagakure, you said?" No trace of the dead man was left. Tenten nodded, biting her lip to keep from another raging outburst. "And she demanded to see the Hokage?" Tenten nodded meekly.

Sakura wasn't really sure where Shikamaru was going with all of this, but she trusted his gut instinct.

He leapt up, and winced, clutching his forearm. It wasn't serous, but it probably stung…a lot. Sakura put her hand over her mouth, and quickly formed a ball of green chakra. "Gomen! Gomen!" She had forgotten in the all the haste.

_One Hour Later_

The large group might have been sleepy before, but the sudden rush of adrenaline pumping through their veins was more than enough batteries to keep them awake just a little longer.

Shikamaru's heart was still pulsing rapidly from the shock. Nevertheless, he kept up gamely, as he had to lead the way. They flashed so quickly through the numerous buildings and trees of Konoha that they were barely visible to passerby.

"_Please be alright…_"

His foot made contact with a branch, then the corner top of a building. Sakura's pale pink hair flashed in the moonlight, Sasuke's ebony spikes blending in with the backdrop of black sky.

"…_Ino, don't be hurt…_"

The more abandoned district of Konoha was coming into view, the part that had almost been blown up so many years ago. Shikamaru's lips twitched, thinking of how much troublesome thinking needed to have been done on his part.

"…_I could never forgive myself…_"

He touched down on the ground, his heart thumping, mourning. Guilt pulsed through his veins.

"…_I'll make it up to you, just be alright, Ino…_"

Taking a deep breath, he walked toward the run-down shed, his hand reached out. His teammates were silent behind him, recognizing that he needed to do this alone. The dust that rose by his feet emphasized each step.

"_Onegai!_"

Shikamaru's hand touched the lever. "Locked," he muttered. "Mendokusai, mendokusai!!"

Sasuke placed a quiet hand on his shoulder and pushed him away. "Hn."

He flicked the lock up with a clever move of his finger. Shikamaru fell quiet, knowing he never would have made such a stupid mistake if he had been thinking legibly. "Arigato…Sasuke."

One by one, they leapt into the shed. Scurrying mice could be heard inside the walls.

"Ino…" Sakura murmured softly, her voice shaking.

There was another door, that this time the pink-haired kunoichi pushed open. They were instantly blinded by light that flooded their senses. "Ai!" she cried out, shielding her eyes. By the time that their vision had cleared, the sound of quiet footsteps and the shadow of a person could be seen walking down the hallway.

"So you've come," Kyoko said.

**A/N: A bit short, and another cliffhanger…please don't kill me! I'll try to update really soon!**


	9. The White Room

**A/N: Much appreciation for all the support in the reviews, even though I don't think I deserve all your nice comments/attempts to bow humbly and keels over/ Right, courteous thank-you's aside, thank you very much for reading my story! I never really expected it to have over forty reviews ALREADY!**

**Also, Shika was a little OOC last chapter, but hey, he's never been in love before/wink/, ne? I apologize…**

**If this chapter is disappointing, blame it on the voices that I borrowed from Halo.at.Heart in my head. They aren't very creative at the moment, they just had a sugar crashdown.**

_The Perfect Place_

By: DewWater

Even in their current predicament, Sakura had to admit that Kyoko looked darkly angelic, maybe ethereal, overshadowed, (enlightened?), by the knee-weakening blinding light.

It scared her a little, to know that one very mortal person, (at least she was hoping for that), could look so angelically perfectly _beautiful_, and at the same time be wearing a scowl that seemed like it didn't belong on that heart-shaped face. It gave her the unpredictable urge to wipe it off of her face, and she suppressed the unfamiliar feeling with disgust.

Kyoko's flaming red hair never looked so much like embers flaring to life. Sakura had never really been the poetic type, though she didn't mind a little poetry now and then. Right now, if there was a poet alive who could describe this strange beauty in verse, she would pay them decent money to read their writing.

Her silhouette paused, and she wondered how she could be so calmly standing there while the rest of them were sitting there, blinded and stunned and feeling ridiculously helpless.

"Konoha ninja," Kyoko declared, and paused, "…are weak."

"What, may I ask…" Tenten returned in just as much a sinisterly deadly voice, "…have you done with Ino?" The lilt to her tone was sharp as the edge of one of her famous kunai. Her friends had never heard it before, and didn't want to hear it again. Sakura suppressed a tremor of fear.

Kyoko cocked her head, for all the world looking like an innocent little girl.

"Ino? Oh, you mean her? The blonde?"

Shikamaru's eyes widened. "Ino!"

For there she was, in plain sight. The light had cleared, and they now saw that they were looking out into a room that was completely white, freshly painted with acrid-smelling, cheap acrylic paint. There were bright lights shining through the ceiling, thus the blinding light.

Ino lay right behind Kyoko's ankles, her body in a position that looked as if she had almost carelessly been thrown into the curved position she was in. Her silvery-blond hair was strewn across her slightly bruised face.

Shikamaru made a move to get up, but Kyoko was stubbornly blocking his way. He glared at her, and immediately was contemplating 100 different ways he could get past her at the moment.

Kyoko smirked at him. "That won't work."

"Troublesome woman," Shikamaru replied, and sent her the shadow limitation. Even though she was clearly caught with the jutsu, Kyoko was still smirking triumphantly. Shikamaru stepped toward her. Kyoko stepped toward him.

"You cannot pass me," she murmured with a sinister flick of her tongue. Her green eyes flashed a violent neon green for a moment in the bright lights, and then it was gone, that hint of insanity.

"Troublesome women," Shikamaru stated this time, and promptly used the same move as he had with Tsuchi Kin.

Kyoko collapsed in a heap on the floor, unmoving, the corners of her lips still twisted into that wickedly triumphant grin. Sakura did shudder this time, wondering for all the world how she could still look so beautiful like that.

"Ino!" Shikamaru ran toward his fallen teammate, only to discover that he could not take one step forward from the seemingly unblocked doorway. His eyes widened. "Nani?"

Ino's eyes cracked open. The first thing she saw was the white room, and all of her friends piled at the doorway, Shikamaru's eyes especially wide. "Shika-kun?" she whispered. Shikamaru stopped trying to outsmart the obviously jutsued door, and stared at Ino. She'd never called him /that/ before. And she was a awake…?

She smiled lazily at him, much in his own fashion. "Oi, forehead-girl? Would you mind telling me why I'm here?"

_Two Hours Later_

The sun was beginning to creep up above the faint horizon line. Out of the white room, there was only one window through which they could judge the time, and it was probably somewhere around early dawn, 5 AM maybe.

Tenten groaned and slid down the wall on her back. "Might I ask how long exactly we've been here?" she murmured sleepily. "Not to complain, but I can't feel my legs, and I really don't want to amputate."

Shikamaru groaned. "Women. They shouldn't become ninja." Tenten instantly flared up. "Say that again! Take it back!" Shikamaru grinned lazily. "Knew that would wake you up." Hinata looked down at her feet and pressed her fingers together. She suppressed a yawn nervously.

Neji glanced at her. "Hinata-sama?" Hinata's head jerked up. "H-Hai, Neji-nii-san?" "You're tired. Sit down and sleep." Hinata shook her head violently. "Iie…I m-mean…I want to help I-Ino-chan get out."

"You're tired. I can tell by your eyes. Now sleep." When Neji used that tone, he wasn't going to take arguing. At that moment, Naruto wandered up, his eyes squinted and his mouth pouty. "Oi, who'll let me sleep on them? I want RAMEN, dattebayo!"

Neji closed his eyes and smirked coolly. "Dobe, do I recall once telling you that a dropout is always a dropout?" Naruto opened his eyes. "Eh? But I beat you! And I'm still going to replace baa-chan when she retires!"

The prodigy smirked. "May be so. But a dobe is always a dobe." Naruto sweatdropped. "Neji…do you have to rub it in?"

That was when he noticed Hinata, who looked about ready to try out how Shikamaru managed to sleep on his feet. Her eyes were sliding slightly out of focus, and it sat slightly limp on her neck. She sighed softly, almost inaudibly.

Naruto smiled broadly. "Are you sleepy, Hinata-chan? You could lean on me!"

Hinata turned very, very, _very_ red. "N-Naruto-kun…" Naruto grinned even wider. "Alright, then!" He slid down the wall like Tenten and beckoned to Hinata. Hinata promptly fainted, and dropped into Naruto's lap. Neji was instantly over-protective again. "Naruto…watch where and when you touch her," he warned.

Naruto shrugged helplessly. "She fell on me!" Neji sighed and leaned against the wall. Nevertheless, he was still keeping both eyes on the two of them.

Something was poking him in the leg. He looked down to see Tenten's innocent face looking up at him. "Tenten?" he asked in a deadpan tone. "What?" Tenten smiled sheepishly. "Did I hurt you?" Neji was taken aback. "Hn?"

Tenten smiled again, now looking embarrassed. "You know, any of my sleeping habits…er, _pulverize _you or something like that?" Neji smirked, recalling the night's events, but he would never admit that. "Iie." Tenten breathed a sigh of relief. "Really?" Neji nodded a tiny nod. "Alright, then! If I didn't do it then, then maybe we can be partners again for another sleepover!" Now, it was Neji's turn to sweatdrop. "Hai…Tenten."

Sakura and Shikamaru were panicking. Ino was still there behind the invisible barrier, chattering angrily to herself. "Why don't you just blast a hole through the wall?" Sakura suggested. Shikamaru shook his head. "The wall's too thick, remember? Neji scanned it with Byakugan. It would use up too much chakra for Ino to blast a hole in it. She would fall unconscious and wouldn't wake up until much later, whereas she would overuse her chakra again."

Sakura sighed. "Any idea what kind of barrier this is?" They had long ago put Kyoko under a freezing jutsu much like the one that had frozen the kunoichi on the Hokage's ceiling.

Naruto was still awake.

"ARRGHH! I can't feel my leg!" He shouted, but Hinata was so deeply asleep that she didn't even stir. Sakura smiled sympathetically at him. Sasuke smirked. "You're sitting on something, dobe." Naruto, with difficulty, maneuvered around Hinata and pulled out a tag labeled "SEAL" on it.

Everybody sweatdropped.

"THAT WAS IT ALL ALONG?" Shikamaru roared.

_Two Seconds Later_

Ino was out, and Kyoko was strapped to Sasuke's back as they made their way to the Hokage headquarters. It was now around 6:30 to 7:00 in the morning, a tad early for Tsunade to be in a 100 good mood yet, but they didn't really had a choice.

Sakura felt a twinge of jealousy when they tied the prisoner carefully to Sasuke. She wished that she were a prisoner for a moment, before she realized what Tsunade would probably do.

"_Nah_."

**A/N: Probably not really good…tell me what you think!**


	10. Riddles

**A/N: Sorry about the long update!**

**This fiction will not be very long, just as a warning, but I will be coming out with another new one which is longer, (hopefully), soon!!**

**Disclaimer: No own Naruto…**

**And to all of you who don't like Evanescence, then you suck.**

**You're on my hit list.**

**(Just kidding! But Evanescence so rocks my sox!)**

_The Perfect Place_

By: DewWater

"Hmm."

Tsunade was not looking up in that unsettling way of hers. Strands of blond hair fell forward into her seemingly eternally youthful face, masking the careful expression in her eyes.

"Ah, well…"

"TSUNADE NO BAA-SAN!" Naruto roared disrespectfully. "Urusai, Naruto!" Tsunade snapped, turning her head so that the mark on her forehead was visible. "Shizune!" "Hai, Tsunade-sama!" "Give me her statistics."

Shizune nervously handed her employer a manila envelope and hastily took a step back. What with her superhuman strength, dangerous addiction to gambling, and quick temper…better safe than sorry with Tsunade.

"Ai, has no one got any respect for Konoha nins anymore?" she sighed, flipping lazily through the files. "Kyoko, was it?" she shrugged carelessly. "Rank is Chuunin, part of Sunagakure…she seems virtually nondescript," Tsunade commented, managing to sound the part of a bored Hokage.

Naruto scowled and Sasuke tossed the motionless heap of girl onto the floor disdainfully, stretching his shoulders back to relieve the searing ache. Sakura blushed slightly.

Ino was hysterical at this reaction.

"Tsunade-sama! That…_girl_," she pointed a shaking finger, "Locked me up for hours for no apparent reason! She belongs in a mental asylum!" Shikamaru huffed and stared at the ceiling. "Well, it wasn't exactly hard to get you out."

Ino glared at him. "Who was it that never found the Seal tag?" Shizune looked back and forth between the two, looking pleasantly bewildered, while Tsunade pretended not to acknowledge their existence.

"Well, just leave her there," she said, motioning pointedly at her sprawled position on the floor. "I'll take care of her after I'm done with _these_," she muttered with disgust, heaving up a pile of ten-pounder papers. "Lovely. Just lovely."

They left to Tonton's snickers and Tsunade's shouted complaints echoing out into the hallway.

_In the Afternoon, Back at the Girls' Home_

Ino was lying on the couch, slightly battered and highly ravenous. She shoveled down a large bowl of cup ramen hungrily, much to Naruto and Sakura's amusement. Shikamaru was cloud-gazing out of the window.

"Why do you think Kyoko kidnapped Ino?" Tenten mused. She lay back on the couch with her arms behind her head. Neji absently tucked a strand of lose hair behind her ear. "It is highly probable that it was a mission entrusted to her from the Sand." Tenten blushed inwardly and weakly nodded.

"Why Ino? And why did she react that way, do you think, when I told her my name?" Sakura wondered aloud, propping her chin up on her knuckles. Naruto frowned. "I won't let anybody harm you, Sakura-chan!" Sakura smiled tidily. "Arigato, Naruto."

"Hn," Sasuke grunted. "Me neither."

Sakura smiled softly. "Arigato…Sasuke-kun."

Ino smiled at the three sprawled around the couch, at the way that Sakura's eyes always lit up whenever she looked at Sasuke. Sasuke seemed indifferent, however, so she wasn't getting her hopes up.

Hinata was nervously fingering the box of tarot bones, as a sort of habit. Abruptly, she stared down at her pale fingertips. "Hm? What is it, Hinata-chan?" Naruto asked brightly, hopping down next to her, and reaching his arm around her to look at the box. Hinata turned very, very red.

"Er…N-Naruto-kun…"

"Eh? Oh, gomen, Hinata-chan!" Naruto apologized in a stage whisper.

The Hyuuga heiress's fingertips were brushed against the prominent symbol of the sand engraved onto the tin lid of the box. "How did we not notice that before?" Tenten wondered, also kneeling down. "I d-don't think it was t-there before…" Hinata proposed. Ino frowned from her position on the other couch. "Really?"

"How is that possible?" Sakura asked, looking over Sasuke's uninterested head. "You need to comb your hair, Sasuke-kun!" she giggled, pressing apart the back of the famous chicken. Sasuke's eye twitched irritably.

"You're annoying," he muttered. Sakura's face fell slightly, but she was still smiling. "I know." Sasuke settled down into a more relaxed position and seemed to give up pestering her about his hair.

"Do you think…" Tenten murmured, "…that the tarot bones are connected with Kyoko and the kidnapping?"

Everybody straightened up. "Well, it's certainly a possibility," Shikamaru countered lazily. "But it's too troublesome to get mixed up in this mess. I don't like fighting. It gets in the way of a definite future involving a wife and children and playing Shogi peacefully."

Ino giggled slightly.

"But we have to! To avenge my kidnapping!" Ino remarked, a bit disappointed that Shikamaru hadn't volunteered this alibi himself. Sakura smiled warmly back at her friend. "She's right, of course," she agreed. Naruto pumped his fist into the air enthusiastically. "Wakata-dattebayo!!"

Everybody sweatdropped.

"What _now_, Naruto?" Neji muttered, with a tad of anger edged into his tone. He was already on his feet, ready to move. Naruto glared at his so-called rival. "We're going to change fate, whether you and the tarot bones like it or not!"

_One Hour Later_

Everybody was ready to go. It was decided that they would interrogate Kyoko for her odd alibis.

They were ready to get some serious questioning done and get down to business, when they leapt off through the rooftops toward the Hokage's building, so soon after leaving it. They weren't just going to let this one drop.

**A/N: I know, I know, it's short and a filler! Please don't kill me! The next chapter or the one after that should be the ending chapter, I can't get the next fic idea out of my HEAD!!!**


	11. Target

**A/N: OK, so maybe this story will take a few more chapters than I thought it would in the last chapter.**

**It's just that I'm anxious to finish it as soon as possible to start on my NEW Naruto fanfiction, which will most likely be decidedly better now that I've worked out the kinks of my Naruto fictions!**

**Have yet to decide what it'll be called though.**

**Disclaimer: Dun own Naruto. So there.**

_The Perfect Place_

By: DewWater

"_Orochimaru-sama."_

_An eerie smile spread across the former sannin's pastel pale face. "Kyoko…my faithful servant," he hissed, the grin spreading wider. The flame-haired girl kneeling in front of him was visibly suppressing a shudder. "H-Hai."_

_The snake's tongue flicked out, the tip of it just brushing her earlobe. She fought the urge to vomit. _

"_I need you to bring me…a little gift."_

_Kyoko nodded respectfully. "Hai, Orochimaru-sama!"_

Now, sitting in the dank cell and guarded, completely surrounded more like, by the mysterious masked ANBU members, Kyoko was sweating cold sweat and wondering whether or not it would be better to not just take her own life now, or wait for the torture Orochimaru would be sure to give her.

"I failed," she thought miserably. "There is nothing worse that you can do as a subordinate of the snake."

And that was exactly what she was, wasn't she? A traitor to the Hidden Village of the Sand, probably more monstrous than Subaku no Gaara. She shivered uncontrollably, hugging her knees tightly to her chest and rocking back and forth.

She was a prisoner, here in weak, weak Konoha. Would the ANBU members protect her, then, if Orochimaru attacked? Or would they step aside, and attack him, but leave her utterly defenseless in the face of certain death?

Kyoko was powerful, perhaps not as much so as Gaara, but certainly more than Temari, her childhood rival. She grinned to herself, almost sadistically. Perhaps this was a good way to die, carrying out a last failed mission for Orochimaru, and more powerful than Temari.

The Haruno girl.

She hissed to herself. Perhaps she was taking after her new master, she grinned to herself, slightly amused by this new antic. The blindingly pink hair flashed in her mind's eye again. She growled this time. She was going to die for what this was costing Kyoko, she was.

And the Uchiha.

She smirked to herself. Traitor, she thought at him as hard as she could, willing him to hear her. You filthy traitor.

As if on cue, footsteps were heard on the rusting metal outside of her cell. Kyoko resisted the automatic response to look up, and continued to stare at her knees, a sadistic smile twisting its way onto her lips.

"So you've come," she automatically said, as soon as the footsteps halted. Uchiha Sasuke smirked. "Of course." Kyoko's sneer grew wider. "You traitor, the nerve to show up here!" Sasuke humored her, looking around. "Well, I'd say the traitor here would be you, Kyoko-_sama_," he mocked.

An eerie flash came across Kyoko's eyes.

"And the Haruno girl? How is she?"

At last, the reaction she had been waiting all those long hours for: Sasuke flinched visibly. His shoulders stiffened as his hair fell forward, obscuring his blood red Sharingan eyes. "Ah, so I've hit a soft spot," she slurred.

Sasuke's eyes shot up, violently red now. "You won't touch her. I won't _let_ you lay a single _finger_ on her!" he roared. Kyoko tutted, looking up at the ceiling of her cell absently. A rat scuttled by her foot and she reflectively kicked it. It squealed and fell limp onto the floor.

"Oh, such a temper! I wonder why such a great person such as Orochimaru-sama picked you as his vessel…" she smirked. Sasuke flinched again, though this time it was more of a guilty shudder. "I'm not affiliated with him anymore," he muttered, guilt dripping in his voice.

Kyoko purred. "But you can't forget, can you? The pain?" Sasuke instinctively clamped his hand on the spot where the curse seal had been. Kyoko pulled aside her collar slightly, revealing the three black marks. "I'm the only one alive with it now," she murmured. "_I'm_ his next vessel."

Sasuke's eyes widened. "Sakura."

Kyoko sighed. "Ah, you've been awfully slow catching on, Sasuke-kun…hai, he wants _her_…preferably dead. Your punishment for running away and betraying him. Fairly light I must say…that girl is a worthless piece of crap."

Sasuke's fists clenched hard, the nails creating bloody dents in the palms. His face was white from anger, but he gritted his teeth and didn't say anything.

"I will kill you if you touch her."

Kyoko smiled. "I know."

_Outside of the Prison Cells_

Naruto frowned, tapping his foot impatiently. "Oi, why's Sasuke-teme taking so long?" he pouted to Sakura. Sakura smiled nervously, clicking her fingers together behind her back and feeling anxious for a reason she couldn't name.

"_Sasuke-kun…are you alright in there, all alone with _her?" she wondered.

Ino placed a reassuring hand on her friend's shoulder. The warmth of the simple gesture made Sakura smile slightly wider. Her lovely green eyes seemed to teleport across how grateful she was to having her friend there. Ino smiled back, her wide blue eyes saying a silent "you're welcome".

Hinata and Neji were leaning against the wall, both with Byakugan activated and staring through the wall. "Sasuke's coming back," Neji muttered flatly. Hinata deactivated her Byakugan along with her cousin, and everybody turned expectantly to the doors.

Sasuke looked oddly strained when he came out, and his eyes flashed so quickly to Sakura and back that nobody could tell if he had really done it. But when Naruto casually asked him if he was alright, Sasuke only smirked and replied, "Hn."

Sakura trailed Sasuke all the way back to their house. She looked down as they flew from roof to roof. Ino kept pestering Sasuke about what Kyoko had told him, but Sasuke would only ignore her, his coal-black eyes vacant as he stared straight ahead.

Hinata glanced, worried, at her pink-haired friend. "S-Sakura-chan?"

Sakura didn't answer.

Naruto glanced at her too this time, worried. "Sakura-chan?"

The pink-haired kunoichi looked up and smiled tentatively at her two worried friends. "Daijoubu."

"_Even though I'm so afraid…_" she thought silently.

_Back at the House_

"Well?" Ino asked impatiently. "What did she tell you?"

Sasuke shifted slightly from his position on the couch, and closed his eyes. He smirked Sakura's favorite confident smirk, and promptly ignored her. Ino pouted.

Neji looked bored and completely uninterested as usual. "Just get on with it, Uchiha," he drawled. Tenten smiled in encouragement and elbowed Neji. Neji glared at her, and Tenten smiled innocently back. "_How does she do that?_" he wondered briefly.

"She…said that…she was targeting…somebody," Sasuke finally allowed.

The room was very silent then. "Me?" Ino squeaked. Sasuke shook his head slowly. Sakura and Naruto, who knew him best, got the definite feeling that he was keeping something extra from them, and Naruto put it off. Sakura, however was not so sure about it. "_He wouldn't keep anything important secret…right?_" she tried to convince herself.

Inner Sakura's response wasn't very encouraging.

**_Well, he never did bother to tell you that he was going to betray Konoha._**

_Shut up!_

_**Hey, I'm only pointing out the truth.**_

_Can you ever be encouraging?_

_**Well, I helped when you were fighting Ino, didn't I?**_

…_that's different._

_**Yeah, right. Shannaro!**_

Sakura sighed.

She just really, really hoped that this wasn't going to end _badly_.

**A/N: As you can see, many more chapters are still hinted at! Keep waiting!**


	12. Panic

**A/N: I'm updating fast again! Yay!**

**The song is my own, I do happen to own it!**

**Thanks for the encouragement, I agree that not many people these days actually use correct grammar. Me, being a grammar FREAK, am dead set against changing that. Even so, I make mistakes and they BUG me, probably more than they do to you, so thank you for pointing those out too!**

**Well, this story's nowhere near over. I figured that out last night when I got a sudden spur of inspiration for this story that'll be great. Hopefully. /wink/**

_The Perfect Place_

By: DewWater

Tenten couldn't sleep.

The boys were sleeping over again, much to everybody's embarrassment. Shikamaru claimed that it was because they were too lazy to go back to their own flat, but she had her sneaking suspicions that it was because Sasuke wanted to keep an eye on Sakura.

Everybody besides Naruto the dobe and Sakura had rather obviously figured out that Sasuke was referring to Sakura as the target. Ino finally caught on when Sasuke never left within three meters of the pink-haired kunoichi after the confrontation with Kyoko.

The weapons mistress irritably slung the braid that she wore her hair in at night over her shoulder, and tucked a wisp of stray brunette hair behind her right ear. Neji's shoulders rose slowly up and down, his back to her, able to sleep peacefully since she was awake and no longer beating him to a pulp.

She smiled slightly to herself. Neji made a soft sound in his sleep. He rolled over, his closed eyes enhanced with long lashes. Tenten smiled slightly wider, and slowly reached over with her index finger and traced the prominent pattern of the cursed seal on Neji's forehead, her eyes thoughtful.

She never would have dared, if her teammate had been awake, but now she found the tranquil noises of night encouraging. Softly, she brushed her thumb against his pale eyelids.

Neji's subconscious flickered, and he slowly opened his eyes. Tenten didn't withdraw her hand in fright, instead she continued to calmly trace the pattern on Neji's forehead.

"Neji-kun?" she whispered quietly in the dark.

"Hn."

"I'm sorry."

Neji glared at her curiously through his wide pearl eyes. He wasn't angry, but Neji seemed to be glaring at the world, always. "For what?" he retorted a little louder than her.

Tenten gave him an odd look then. "For fate."

The Hyuuga prodigy didn't respond, and closed his eyes again. Tenten, afraid that she had offended him, withdrew her hand. "Gomen…Neji-kun," she murmured, sounding guilty. Neji didn't open his eyes. Mixed feelings shot through his heart: pain, remorse, regret, hatred. Something like gratitude.

"Do that again," he commanded in a low voice.

Tenten sounded confused when she answered. "Nani?" Neji made a noise that might have been interpreted as a sigh. "You stopped. Don't stop."

Tenten smiled slightly, and resumed tracing the cursed seal on his forehead. Neji's anxious expression settled into a more peaceful one. "What is it like, Neji-kun?" she asked curiously. Neji didn't open his eyes to answer. "Complicated. Fate is complicated."

The weapons mistress responded with a sad expression, her wide brown eyes full of compassion and understanding. "I know," she responded. "I understand, Neji-kun."

_I breathe to catch_

_The scent of bittersweet betrayal_

_Bloomed from a deathly_

_Flower in my heart_

_For black is my pain_

_And dead is my soul_

_May the flowers of bitter innocence_

_Tear us away and give us wings to fly_

_Only to fall amongst the sharp edges_

_Of a shattered heart_

Tenten breathed the last line of the song, her eyelids drooping. Neji's eyes flickered open. "What is the name of that song?" he whispered. Tenten's eyes crinkled at the corners. "I don't know," she replied honestly. "Arigato…" Neji answered regardless.

He brushed back a wisp of loose hair from her hair. "That fight with Temari…" he suddenly remarked. Tenten stiffened visibly. "…what were you thinking? Your expression was so…pained…" he said slowly, his expression unreadable.

Tenten turned away.

"I was so disappointed," she finally whispered, looking up at the lovely picture on her ceiling and once again feeling the emotion of longing. Neji raised his eyebrows, waiting for her to elaborate, but she never did.

She fell asleep, to dream about Sakura's horrified face, and herself, trying desperately to run and save her, but the dream run never sped up, and Tenten stood by helplessly watching Sakura's death and hearing her agonized screams…

_Tenten._

_**Tenten.**_

_**TENTEN!**_

She shot up, her head spinning like she had too much sake to drink. "Where am I?" she muttered groggily, yawning widely and struggling to make her eyes focus.

Neji's face swam into view. "It's three in the morning. What are you screaming about?" he grunted, sounding annoyed. Tenten squeaked. "Gomen, gomen, Neji-kun!" Neji grunted again. "I shut the door and woke you up before anybody else could hear."

Tenten sighed in relief.

"_At least nobody heard me._"

_In The Prison Cells_

All the other prisoners were asleep, but Kyoko's mind was as alert as ever.

She had carefully analyzed the guard patterns of the mysterious ANBU. If they weren't high class ninja as they were, she probably already would have been free. She grunted, annoyed from lack of sleep, and thought of how wonderful a good two mugs of coffee would be right now. Without sugar.

The ANBU outside didn't seem sleep-prone either. He stood like a statue outside of her door, along with two others at the corners that she couldn't see as well. Then again, it was always difficult to tell, under those weird masks.

Kyoko knew full well that she could never go back to the Sound Village without the corpse of Haruno. She also knew how she was a secondary option…

What did they call them? The "understudy"?

She smirked grimly to herself. Orochimaru still wanted his precious Sasuke-kun, but that was not going to happen if she had a say in it. By killing Sakura, he would be severing the last possible tie Sasuke had to the world outside of the Sound, and by later on taking Naruto…

But Kyoko was not going to let that happen the way it was supposed to.

She felt her fingers trembling as she clenched them into fists by her sides. The skin stretched white over her knuckles. "I am no substitute, Orochimaru-sama," she murmured. "I will be great, and exceed your expectations!"

_At Midnight_

Sasuke couldn't sleep either.

Images of Orochimaru's leering expression flashed through his mind, a blazing chidori, then Kakashi, telling him, _your limit is two times a day…_

Then, Itachi, bloody Itachi, lying there so still in a pool of crimson, his black eyes with the oddest blank expression in them staring up at the face of his little brother, forever wondering how he had managed to have been beaten.

The only Uchiha rolled over uncomfortably, so that he didn't have to look at Sakura again, so that he didn't have to _know_ so hard, the pain that he would feel if she ceased to take another slow breath like she was now…

He shook his head. "_I'm becoming weak, I'm setting down roots again,_" his panicked thoughts fled through his mind. "_I can't become too attatched…to Naruto and Konoha and my…friends again,_" he thought, with a tint of panic.

His eyes wandered up to the moon. So unchanging, even though craters appeared every night and nobody acknowledged them.

With a spasm of violent terror, he made the sinking realization that he could no longer live if anything ever happened to those important to him, those sleeping under this roof right now. Itachi was dead, but there were others like him…others who could kill just as easily and ruthlessly…

A shudder of fear ran through his frame.

"_They will not become sacrifices!_" he thought fervently, panic seizing his chest. He rolled over again, restless, coming to rest watching Sakura's pale angel's face. "_Not her. You cannot touch her…Orochimaru!_"

And Sakura stirred slightly, as if reaching for his thoughts, reaching for him.

**A/N: Ended it on a more dramatic note, but I'm listening to Breathe no More and it kind of set the mood of longing and pain and goodbyes in me…**


	13. Goodbye

**A/N: Yeah, well, I already mentioned that this story has yet a long way to go, right?**

**Yeah. Maybe not for eternity…but it's something, right? My goal is to get 100 reviews, and I WILL find a way for me to keep the story going until that turning point.**

**Whoever gives me my hundredth review earns my gratitude! And a one-shot request if you want it; I'm not all that great of a writer but I'll write one for you if you like!**

_The Perfect Place_

By: DewWater

Sakura felt like something wasn't right.

She was asleep, and yet she was restless. She guessed that the cause of her waking up was Sasuke being restless in his sleep, because she opened her eyes to find him with his head on his arms, his face emotionless but his eyes raging with pain and anger, at what she didn't know.

"Sasuke-kun?" she murmured, her eyes half-shut. Sasuke looked up automatically at the familiar call. Her green eyes were misted, half closed. _Beautiful,_ he thought. _But more attachments._

"Daijoubu?" she asked, sounding anxious. Sasuke didn't want her to sound anxious. It annoyed him. "There's nothing wrong," he snapped. Sakura recoiled, looking hurt, and Sasuke promptly ignored her, trying to force down the regret and guilt in his stomach.

"Oh. Alright, then," she murmured, lying down on her back and gazing at the blank ceiling.

After a few seconds of silence, she said quietly, "He wants me, doesn't he?" Sasuke thought it was an odd question to ask, in that context. "Who?" he replied carefully. Sakura sighed. "I don't need to be protected from the truth!" she insisted, her tone pleading.

Sasuke looked away.

"Stop ignoring me!" she cried. "I don't want to ignored and always having to rely on you and Naruto and Ino! I can take care of myself!"

Sasuke pretended she had never spoken, his eyes half closed and his raven hair obscuring his face. "Talk to me!" she demanded, her voice breaking in the middle. "S-Sasuke-kun…" she whispered.

Bolts of pain shot through his chest. Already, to feel this way when she simply spoke a few well-chosen words…Sasuke winced, thinking of his reaction if she ever was hurt by the Snake. And then he made his decision. It came to him quickly, so he didn't have time to deny the obvious need.

He abruptly stood up. Sakura looked confused and hurt. "Sasuke-kun?" "Sakura…wake the others. I'm leaving," he said coldly.

Sakura's eyes widened, taking a moment to take in what he had just said. "N-Nani?" "I'm leaving," he repeated, moving toward Tenten's bedroom. "If you won't wake them, then I will." Sakura stood there, staring dumbly at his retreating back as he pushed open Tenten and Neji's door.

Before she knew it, time had passed in a blur. She remembered screaming and confused stuttering and many threats, mostly from Naruto. Mainly, she stayed quiet, pain engulfing her frame, the déjà vu so familiar.

Sasuke leaving…

Then they were outside in the street, all eight of them, none of them having been conscious enough to stop the unstoppable Uchiha. And then they were on the road leading to the outside of the village…

"You…you promised," Sakura finally choked out, the words broken and toneless. "You promised that you wouldn't ever leave me again, not ever!" she gasped. An expression of great pain flashed across Sasuke's face. "Stay out of this, Sakura. I have my reasons."

"This is about Kyoko, isn't it?" Ino guessed, sounding like the desperate fury inside Sakura's own chest. Sasuke glared at her. "Urusai! I'm leaving!"

"B-But Sasuke…this is s-so sudden!" Hinata murmured.

Sasuke shook his head. "I know, but it's necessary." Sakura was shaking her head again. "No, I won-" Her eyes widened as Sasuke roughly engulfed her lips in his, holding her tightly, his fingertips bruising her shoulders. There was time for her green eyes to widen and a blush to spread across her cheeks, and tears rolled down, as she gently shut her lids. He didn't ever want to let go of her, he didn't want to hurt her anymore, he didn't want this to end, the sweet taste of her lips.

Sasuke let go of her, and looked down at her. "Sakura…arigato."

And then he was gone, just as abruptly as he had announced leaving…vanished into thin air, and Sakura collapsed onto the ground. Everybody else was stunned, wide-eyed, waiting for the pain to come later. For Sakura, there was only irony. This was the one thing she had trained herself for, so that she could stop her loved ones from ever again doing this…and then…

She smiled slightly through the pouring tears. "You didn't knock me out this time, Sasuke-kun," she murmured, dragging her finger through the dust on the ground. "You didn't even allow me that small pleasure, saving the pain for later…"

And yet, this time, she knew that he had gone to the same place, to the same person, and it was all the worse because she knew with dreadful certainty that it was all her fault.

_Later_

"Sakura, you need to move," Ino said gently, putting her hand on her friend's shoulder. Sakura shook her head violently, still kneeling on the ground in the middle of the road out of Konoha.

Hinata looked on, her pale eyes full of sadness. "It's alright, Ino-chan. L-let her be." Ino sighed, and looked down, her bangs obscuring her eyes. Shikamaru tapped her on the shoulder. "We need to move," he pointed out. "There's a farmer coming along the road, and he needs to get out." Ino stubbornly shook her head. "He'll just have to wait, is all," she retorted saucily.

Shikamaru sighed. "Troublesome woman."

And the farmer did complain, and Ino did argue with him, and Sakura continued to be oblivious to it all. Hinata continued to try and lift her sadness, Neji had on that look of twisted anger, Naruto was being loud, and Tenten was chucking kunai at an unsuspecting tree. Shikamaru cloud-gazed, his heart not really into it.

"H-He'll come back," Sakura whispered. "I know he will. He promised."

Ino smiled sadly. "I'm sure he will," she reassured her friend. "Oi! Could you _please_ move?" the fat farmer insisted, his face purple with fury and waving his whip. "I haven't got all day!" Naruto strolled out from under the tree by the road and promptly picked up Sakura and deposited her gently under the tree.

The farmer huffed. "Children these days," he muttered under his breath, flicking the whip. The horse neighed, and his wagon full of crops moved out onto the road.

Cherry blossoms drifted out of the tree, around the tree. Sakura deftly caught one in the palm of her hand. Round, perfect tears splattered its pink surface, trickled out of the corner of her eyes even though she tried to fight it.

"_Sakura_," she heard his voice.

"Sasuke-kun," she murmured.

But there was no reply.

**A/N: So sad…I made it a kind of bittersweet thing.**


	14. Revenge

**A/N: Wow! There's no flames for the last chapter?**

**I expected a lot, after I reread it. It was a bit confusing when Sasuke just said, "I'm leaving". Did anybody think he just meant he was going back to their flat on the edge of town? I never realized it was confusing until I posted it, so sorry!**

**Disclaimer: Don't own Naruto. Wish I owned SasuSaku and NejiTen though!**

_The Perfect Place_

By: DewWater

Sasuke listened to the plodding sound of his footsteps.

_One…two…three…four…_

He counted them, to keep the pain at bay. It didn't work.

His heart felt like it was burning. He hadn't ever felt this way before, this inside-eating guilt that clawed ruthlessly at his ribcage. He gasped involuntarily, feeling like fire was rearing up in his chest, guilty fire.

Images, clearer than memories normally were, flashed through his head; Sakura proclaiming her undying love for him four years ago, Orochimaru's leering face, and then Sakura again, her broken soul shining through her tearful eyes, the last view he had of her before he left this time.

He thought he might get used to the feeling as he progressed the familiar road. It didn't get better. It was so much worse this time, since the last time Sakura hadn't meant this much to him at all. When he told her she was annoying, he meant it.

And now…

Sasuke thought of what his selfish heart wanted. He wanted to go back and see everybody's smiling faces, (or in Neji's case, happy scowl). He wanted to glare at Naruto and have ramen-eating contests, (of course, they were stupid and utterly pointless). He wanted to train in his favorite clearing. He wanted to watch Tsunade and Jiraiya provide the entire village with entertainment, and Kakashi reading Icha Icha, and Konohamaru graduate from the ninja academy.

But most of all, he wanted to see Sakura's angel face and emerald eyes and cherry blossom hair, and crush her to him and put his nose into her hair. He wondered what it smelled like.

And then, he knew what would happen if he let those thoughts dominate his actions.

Orochimaru, inevitably would find her. He would kill her and torture her, and make him watch. And he would of course, keep him alive as to torture _him_.

Sasuke winced.

He hoped desperately that this was the right thing to do, leaving Sakura behind. If he went to Orochimaru again of his own free will, then there was no reason for harming Sakura other than ill revenge. He hoped that Orochimaru would give one small mercy on that part, and leave her alone.

It was a shaky bet, but the Avenger was willing to take it.

What did he live to avenge for now, that Itachi was dead? He grimaced. "To kill Orochimaru," he yelled, frustrated, out to the empty forest. "for all the pain that he has caused me!"

He fell to his knees, clutching himself, his eyes wide.

_You cannot touch her._

His words floated back to him. He cried out in pure agony, clutching his head, raven hair poking out in every direction from between his fingers. His unofficial promise rang through his ears. The need to fulfill it ran through his veins.

And yet, it was a 50/50 chance that what he was doing now would only make things worse. Grimly, he smiled in a hard, thin line. Great protector he was.

_With Kyoko_

The red head bounded over the roofs of quiet Konoha. It was still too early in the morning for many people to be out, and that was perfect. She wanted to giggle, fighting the bubbling hysteria that was choking her throat. She was _free._

She spread her arms wide and felt the rushing wind fight her face and leverage as she leapt faster.

She needed Haruno. She could not go back to the Sound and get a Sound hitae ate without the girl. She gritted her teeth, grinding them together. So Sasuke had left, and he was going back to Orochimaru to save her.

Of course, that stopped her motives for wanting the girl dead. It also meant that she should probably be going after Sasuke, trying to stop him before she lost her chance of a lifetime, to become Orochimaru's vessel.

And yet, spite burned inside her chest. Sasuke was taking everything away from her, so it was only fair that she would return the favor: leave him alive to suffer the pain. She smiled. Or just long enough to suffer, then she could kill him. Slowly and painfully.

She liked that idea.

The girls' house was vacant, without lights on. She frowned slightly, not sensing any presence when she reached out with her chakra. That was odd, unless they were hiding on purpose. But what reason did they have for that? She was supposed to be locked up, wasn't she?

Again, Kyoko fought the wildly bubbling hysteria in her throat, feeling overwhelmingly triumphant. She would have liked to throw a few deadly punches at the ANBU by her door, but of course that would only alert the entire prison.

Now, she had a mission.

Hm. Apparently they weren't back yet from Sasuke's leave. She doubled back on herself, heading for the only path leading out of Konoha. Of course she would find them there, she told herself. She had to. Her future was depending on it.

Kill the girl. Follow Sasuke. If possible, kill him too.

What reason did he have to go to Orochimaru, if the girl was dead?

Kyoko smirked. Then of course, the little hero would have to avenge her death, wouldn't he? That presented a problem, it did…

She had to focus on surviving her encounter with the last Uchiha. Now _that_ might just present a small problem. Years of training with both Konoha, the Uchihas, and Orochimaru ought to have rubbed off on him somehow. She frowned.

Was she powerful enough, then, to trust in the power of the cursed seal not to consume her, and to use it against Uchiha Sasuke, who had been deemed with enough potential to become Orochimaru's vessel as just a genin?

She'd have to work on that part.

**A/N: Please review!**


	15. Fight

**A/N: Sorry for the long update, schoolwork has been catching up with me.**

**Anyway, what do you other writers do when you want to create a solid line between paragraphs? I've tried hyphens, underscores, and empty space while the "underline" is on, but none of them work.**

**I use word processing, by the way. Thank you to anyone who can answer my question!**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto. I do own Kyoko and the plotline.**

_The Perfect Place_

By: DewWater

"She's coming."

The effect of the words on the group at the road out of Konoha was swift and silent, as soon as the phrase left Neji's mouth. The prodigy deactivated his Byakugan, gazing around at the group with unfeeling eyes. They wrinkled slightly at the edges when he said, "Tenten, get Sakura out of here."

Tenten was about to protest when Neji gave her another stare. "Hai," she muttered reluctantly, jumping into the trees and panting with the effort of supporting Sakura piggy-back style.

Naruto's eyes narrowed dangerously. "Let her come. I'll beat her to a pulp for what she did to Sakura-chan! It's all her fault!" Hinata looked down. "_Naruto-kun, I wish that I could be as determined and confident as you are all the time. You make it look so easy, and I wish that it were and that things were different than they turned out to be_."

There was a flash of red braid among the tops of the thickset green leaves, and then the Sand traitor landed nimbly on the ground, her green eyes sweeping the diminished group with a small amount of interest, more taunting than calculating.

"So, this is the best that you can do, now that precious Sasuke-kun is gone?" she said, her voice a female mocking of Orochimaru's own. Her eyes hardened. "I dare say that you will not see him again."

"Urusai!" Naruto roared, lunging at her, a rasengan already spiraling brightly in his outstretched palm.

It was deflected a foot away from Kyoko by a simple karimi, (replacement). Naruto scowled, and looked wildly around.Kyoko was chuckling darkly on a thickset branch. "Not bad," she chided. "I do wish that you would give me more of a challenge, however, kyuubi."

"Kage bunshin no jutsu!"

Seven Narutos raced violently up the side of the thickset tree, only to be deflected by a forcefield of chakra that Kyoko created with a flick of her middle and index finger. Neji's eyes narrowed. "Byakugan!"

He carefully scanned her chakra systems. "Amazing," he muttered. "What?" Ino asked nervously, twirling her ponytail around her fingers. "Her chakra flow is controlled very well, on the same level as Sakura," he explained. "She's dangerous. Her chakra is stronger than mine."

Ino bit her lip. "Shikamaru! Do you think you can get her from here?" Shikamaru did a quick calculation. "Iie," he said. Ino sighed. "But, I think the shadow of the tree can stretch mine long enough to reach her. I'll try."

"Kage mane no jutsu!"

Shikamaru's shadow stretched quickly and darted up the tree. Kyoko's eyes widened, and she leapt to the sunlight in the middle of the path quickly to avoid the attack. At that moment, she was within range of Neji's divination.

"Two strikes!"

"Four strikes!"

"Eight strikes!"

"Sixteen strikes!"

"Thirty-two strikes!"

"Sixty-four strikes!"

Kyoko staggered backward, wincing and spitting blood. She fell to her knees, still fighting for breath. "Nicely done, Hyuuga," she rasped out, emitting more blood. "Nicely done."

Neji stared at her coldly, not answering. "Do you give up now, traitor?"

Kyoko smirked at him, blood still dripping down her chin, making her look wild and dangerous. "Traitor? Like you could call me that, while Sasuke is walking right back to the Snake at this moment?" Neji turned away. "Sasuke is nothing like you," he replied.

_With Tenten and Sakura_

"Tenten-chan?" Sakura finally murmured.

Tenten nearly fell over from surprise. "Sakura-chan?"

Sakura smiled slightly. "Gomen, Tenten-chan. You can put me down. I know that I'm too heavy for you to carry comfortably." Even though Tenten protested, it felt nice for the ache in her shoulders to ease up. She continued at a slower pace with her friend.

"Why are we heading back? Where are the others?" Sakura murmured. "I haven't really been paying attention to what's been going on." Tenten pursed her lips grimly. "They're fighting Kyoko."

Sakura's eyes widened.

She was about to turn and head back when Tenten locked her in by reflex with a nicely flung rope, conjured from a scroll. "Iie, Sakura. We're heading back," she struggled, holding Sakura back.

Sakura shook her hair out of her eyes wildly. "Tenten-chan, we have to help them!"

Tenten took her friend by the wrist and started dragging her. "They'll be _fine, _Sakura-chan!! They've got Neji and Shikamaru and Naruto with them. Besides, Neji told me to get you safely home, and that's exactly what I'm going to do."

"Soka," Sakura murmured softly, finally relenting. "It's just that…I don't want to see any more of my important people die in front of me again," she murmured, repeating Sasuke's words.

Tenten looked at her oddly. "You're talking about Sasuke, right?" she guessed. "But he never died." Sakura looked up into the patches of sky showing through the trees.

"Maybe not literally…but a piece of his heart died when he left Konoha that first time," she explained, tears sliding out of her eyes again. Tenten sighed, and pulled her friend into a hug, stopping for a moment.

"Sakura, he'll be fine, you know that, right?" Sakura smiled wearily at her friend.

"Hai, Tenten-chan."

Something in Sakura's eyes made Tenten want to question her more about that statement, but she refrained from doing so. "Look. I'll go and cook you some food. You just relax, take a nap. Then we can go back and help them fight, alright? If Kyoko isn't dead by then," she half-joked.

Sakura smiled weakly, retying her hitae ate and tucking a loose strand of cherry pink hair behind her ear. "Alright. I'm starved, anyways."

She hadn't been able to feel the gnaws of hunger in her stomach until now.

Besides, she had a plan to save Sasuke now, so of course she also had an appetite.

**A/N: A bit of a cliffhanger there…**


	16. Lost

**A/N: This story is probably relatively close to being over. Maybe about 5 more chapters as an estimate? Including this one? Hmmm.**

**I'm trying to get this finished this weekend as a major project. In between homework and practicing the flute and all that other darned stuff.**

**Disclaimer: Don't own Naruto. Never will, (unfortunately). **

_The Perfect Place_

By: DewWater

"My good Kami-sama, Sakura's gone!"

Tenten stumbled over a stuffed panda in her wild frenzy to open her door. She realized she had locked it the night before, cursed loudly, and smashed her fist into the doorknob. That didn't solve much, but the door did swing open.

Hinata stepped out into the hallway, looking puzzled and alarmed. Her large white eyes widened at the sight of Tenten, getting tripped and tripping other people at the same time.

"Sakura's…gone," she moaned, grabbing Hinata by the collar. Hinata gulped. "T-Tenten-chan? Daijoubu?!" Tenten released her, and slid down a wall. "What the hell is this about…?" Ino trailed off, seeing the rampaging mess in the hallway. "Where's Sakura?" she immediately demanded, now grabbing Tenten by the collar.

Tenten choked. "Gone."

_The Flat, with the Boys_

Naruto woke up in the middle of the night.

Kyoko had been taken care of. Neji had dragged her all the way back to the ANBU, who were flustered in their own eerie way at having let her escape. After hearing about how major her affiliation with Orochimaru was, they had forced her to set out with them and take them to him, under mysterious threats.

"Something's wrong," he muttered, switching on the light. Shikamaru walked drowsily out of his bedroom down the hallway, which was closest. "What do you want, dobe?" he groaned, squinting into the light, the famous pineapple in frenzied disarray.

"Something's worng," Naruto repeated.

Shikamaru felt like rolling his eyes and then punching Naruto straight out of the window. "Of course something's wrong. World peace hasn't been achieved yet, ne? Now go back to sleep, Naruto." Naruto shook his head. "Iie, I feel like something's happened that we need to know about."

At that very moment, Ino burst through the door violently, nearly tearing it off the hinges. Her wide blue eyes were in hysterics. "SAKURA'S GONE!"

_With Sakura_

The pink-haired kunoichi smiled grimly to herself, hoisted her pack up a little higher, and crossed the boundary into Konoha, at the end of the very road that Sasuke had left on. The smile didn't last long, and the bitter wind shook the leaves of the trees. Their rattling noises reminded her of maracas.

She sighed and tucked a strand of hair behind her ear, continuing on into the gloom.

"Sasuke-kun, I'm coming," she muttered, not really sure what she was feeling at the moment. She was not afraid, was not nervous, was not vengeful.

All she felt was an almost unsettling sure sixth sense that she needed to get Sasuke back, that she could not live without him for so long for a second time. By midday, the pack was already cutting into her shoulders.

By evening, her feet has sprung up too many blisters to count.

By the next morning, she had run out of food.

And by that night that day, she had given up hope of ever making it to the sound fortress alive.

_With the rest of the group_

Tenten hurried determinedly through the trees, Hinata and Ino by her side.

They were going after Sakura. She had left a very audible trail, which worried the Weapons Mistress inconceivably. Sakura was never dumb enough to leave a trail. They were either following a false lead, or she really was too low on chakra to really bother.

Ino sighed, looking more worried than Tenten felt. Of course, it was her best friend that might questionably be walking willingly to her death, but nevertheless, the worry wrinkles on the blonde's forehead were out of place.

Hinata was silent as usual, her Byakugan activated. "There's somebody coming!" she suddenly cried out, and Tenten nearly lost her balance.

Sure enough, less than five seconds later, two roguish ninjas blocked the three kunoichi's passageway. "Ohayo, ladies," one with brilliantly orange hair drawled, a giant katana strapped to his back. "What brings you here today?"

Ino bit her lip. This really was not convenient.

Tenten threw four shruiken at him from around her back. He silently dodged them. "A bit hasty, are we?" he breathed in her ear, and hit a pressure point. Tenten felt blackness closing around her eyes, and Ino call her name.

She fell backward, landing in the moss bed between the roots of two huge trees. Ino and Hinata were both being similarly attacked. The leering face of her ninja smiled as he drew a kunai, getting ready to kill her.

"Two strikes!"

The man's eyes widened, spitting blood.

"Four strikes!"

"Eight strikes!"

The man fell to his knees. Tenten blinked, not daring to believe her luck.

"Sixteen strikes!"

"Thirty-two strikes!"

The ninja spat more blood, his eyes wide and clutching his middle, howling silent screams of pain.

"Sixty-four strikes!"

He lay, unconscious, at Tenten's feet. She blinked again. "Neji-kun?" she murmured.

Neji was silent. "Get up, Tenten. Daijoubu?" He held out a hand. Tenten took it and he yanked her to her feet. Ino and Hinata, slightly beaten up, smiled wearily, looking down at their missing nin. He was wounded pretty badly.

Naruto and Shikamaru fell in behind Neji. "Alright, let's go!" Naruto pumped his fist into the air. And they set off again.

_With Sakura_

Sakura couldn't believe her luck. There was the old site of the hidden Sound village. There was no sign of life: tumbleweeds blew past, and the relics looked like they could crumble at any moment. She pushed on, determined to succeed.

Once inside, you could tell that it was recently inhabited.

She, her heart pumping painfully loud against her ribcage, tentatively pushed open a door. And then she felt the cold metal of a kunai against her throat.

"Sakura," murmured a voice.

She froze. "S-Sasuke-kun?"

He was breathing heavily. "Why did you come here?" Now he sounded angry. She closed her eyes, shuddering from head to foot. "Aishiteru, Sasuke-kun. I thought you knew that." This time a tremor ran through Sasuke's body. "Don't…don't say that," he muttered, withdrawing the kunai.

"I'll show you out a secret passage," he said briskly. "You can't let _him_ find you here." Sakura glanced at his receding back outline, feeling abandoned and hurt. "Sasuke-kun, you can't honestly think that I'll let you stay here without a fight."

Sasuke's expression was wild and sadistic when he turned back to face her. "Fight me? Sakura, that's the problem. You can't _fight_ me. You can't _win _against me. I'm too dangerous for you."

Sakura was crying again now. "Sasuke-kun! Don't say that! Aishiteru!" Sasuke growled. "Stop saying that. You're annoying." Sakura shook her head violently. "You don't have to do this! Come back with me! Kyoko…look, Kyoko's _dead_ or something! You can come back!"

Sasuke turned away. "No, I can't. The Snake is expecting me to become his vessel in two days. And he is still too powerful for us to defeat him if we anger him."

Sakura collapsed in a heap. Shakily, she withdrew a kunai. "Fight me, then," she rasped. "If I win, you come with me. If I lose…then I'll leave as you wish."

Sasuke's expression was stony. "Iie, I refuse." Sakura snorted. "What do you have to lose?" Sasuke considered. "I could hurt you," he opted quietly. Sakura felt a pang, but did not relent. "Fight me!" she demanded. "I'm not that weak anymore."

"Katon: Goukayuu no Jutsu!"

Sakura barely dodged the attack, and landed, panting. She threw a few kunai, but Sasuke vanished and attempted to stick some shruiken in her back. Too late. Karimi.

Sakura smirked from behind a pillar, watching Sasuke as he looked all around for her. And then he was gone. It was her turn to be confused. And then he was behind her. He pinned her arms against the wall, and stared at her. "I win," he mouthed.

Sakura bit her lip. Sasuke, probably by accident, brushed his nose against her collarbone as he retrieved a shruiken imbedded in the pillar. Sakura shuddered and closed her eyes. "Don't," she mouthed back.

Sasuke just smiled sadly.

**A/N: Uh oh…let's see what happens!**


	17. Battle

**A/N: Well, this is like the third to last chapter of the story or something like that, so…yeah.**

**My other Naruto fanfiction should be coming out soon. In my opinion, it will also be decidedly of better plotline, more in-character, and much more interesting overall! Please check it out once it opens!**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto.**

_The Perfect Place_

By: DewWater

At that moment, Neji, Naruto, Shikamaru, Tenten, Ino, and Hinata burst in.

Sasuke whirled around to face them. "N-Nani…?" he gasped incredulously. Sakura's eyes went wide with gratitude. "You guys!" Naruto winked and gave her a thumbs up. "Yo, Sakura-chan!" He narrowed his eyes. "Sasuke-teme! What do you think you're doing?"

Sasuke smirked. Same old dobe.

"Why, I'm simply taking a walk down to old Oto here," he mocked. Naruto smiled widely. "Well, then don't be too long. We were getting worried." Sasuke's bantering manner instantly dropped. "Naruto, just go away."

Naruto glared at him just as suddenly. "What kind of friend would I be then? I don't abandon my friends, unlike some people in our presence." Sasuke roared. "Urusai! There's nothing you can do anymore!"

Naruto smiled, supremely confident. "You can't tell until you try. 'Do or do not, there is no try'." Tenten wrinkled her nose. "Hey, I've heard that somewhere before," she pondered, "but I just can't put my finger on it."

Sasuke smirked. "Alright then, so determined to get yourself killed. Or worse."

Naruto pumped his fist into the air, all energetic again. "Of course not! I'll eat Snake Guy for dinner!" Ino smiled wryly. "Hinata, you sure won't have problems with pickiness over meals once you're married." Hinata blushed. "Eh, did you say something, Ino?" Naruto asked. "Nope," Ino said, grinning as Hinata nearly fainted.

Shikamaru rolled his eyes. "Well, if we're going to walk to our deaths, shall we get it over with? So much for living a peaceful life.

_Five Minutes Later_

"Orochimaru," Naruto muttered venomously.

The snake sat on a high pedestal, his tongue flickering out and looking much younger, despite the years. His voice was high pitched and distinctly female when he spoke, (creepy).

"Naruto-kun…always a pleasure."

Sasuke had the oddest expression of torment and indecision set on his face. "I'm leaving," he finally declared openly, the words echoing around the room. Naruto looked slightly taken aback, expecting a long, diplomatic, and carefully planned announcement.

However, Orochimaru didn't look the least bit surprised. "Why, of course," he hissed. "You know the way out, Sasuke-kun…"

Sakura narrowed her eyes, and shouted, "It's a trap!" Orochimaru hissed again, which sounded almost like a cruel cackling laugh. "Smart girl. Your name, kunoichi?" Sakura's spittle froze in her throat. "Haruno," she whispered. "Haruno Sakura."

Orochimaru's eyes widened in delighted surprise. "Ah, the very person I have been seeking, no doubt? This is an unexpected surprise…" His tongue flickered again. A shudder rippled through Sakura's frame. Sasuke took an unconscious step closer to her.

"Ino! Watch out!" Shikamaru suddenly shouted, elbowing her out of the way just as a ninja burst out of the ground. Ino fell on the floor with Shikamaru on top of her, and even in present circumstances, she blushed vividly.

They needn't have worried, however.

"Ero-sennin!" Naruto yelled joyously. "Tsunade-sama!" Sakura cried out. "Kakashi," Sasuke acknowledged flatly.

The elite jounin and the two sannin stood in a calm row. Jiraiya and Tsunade had eyes only for their former teammate. "Orochimaru," Tsunade declared loudly. Orochimaru looked slightly more alert now. "Tsunade…"

And then the greetings were over in a blur of green, red, and white as the three sannin sped at each other, a huge snake, snail, and frog right alongside. The dust and huge booming noises coming from the battle were so large that nobody could see what was actually going on. "Tsunade-sama!" Sakura cried out.

The dust settled what seemed like forever later.

Orochimaru lay very still in the middle of the floor, surrounded by his own blood and a panting Tsunade and Jiraiya.

Ino nearly fainted. "You defeated him so quickly!" she realized. Tsunade smiled wryly. "He was not at full power. He's weak from his former defeat. Well, I guess he's not a problem anymore, then?"

"Finally, no more of this," Tenten sighed.

"Nah, we still have one more mission to fulfill," Ino remarked playfully.

"W-What's that, Ino-chan?" Hinata stuttered, curious.

"We still have a dance to attend, ladies!" Ino whooped.

**A/N: I know that the battle with Orochimaru totally sucked, but I'm anxious to end this story so that the other one can have my full and undivided attention, (though I seem to write best when either distracted or procrastinating, xD).**


	18. Dance

**A/N: This should be the last chapter, unless there's an epilogue, which you will be informed of at the end of this chapter! So here you go!**

**Disclaimer: No. Own. Naruto.**

_The Perfect Place_

By: DewWater

"Oh, Kami-sama," Tenten moaned in wonder.

They had just walked into a 3-D version of the painting on the ceiling of her bedroom, except much more beautiful. It was strung with hidden lights and not-so-hidden lanterns, which made it seem ethereal in their basking glow. Tenten's face lit up, which had nothing to do with the outside light.

"Now my life is complete," she decided, spinning into the middle of the grass, where several people were already shyly dancing to a fast beat playing from somewhere toward the edge of the clearing.

Hinata was about to quietly back into a nice corner and watch the festivities, but Naruto grabbed her arm with a huge, goofy grin on his face. "Dance with me, Hinata-chan!" he said very loudly. Hinata's face went red from bottom to up. "H-Hai, Naruto-kun!"

Ino smiled blissfully, watching Naruto drag Hinata into the middle of the dance floor. "This is wonderful," she murmured to Sakura quietly. Sakura smiled from ear to ear. "Isn't it?"

"You know, we have to share at least one dance with our date," Tenten reminded them, walking up from behind and startling both of the other girls into sheepish grins after they realized who it actually was. Sakura smiled. "I'm looking forward to that."

Ino smirked. "I'll bet."

Sakura elbowed her, hard, and she scowled slightly, pouting. Tenten rolled her eyes and crossed her arms over the jumper and cargo pants she was wearing. Her hair was in two French braids, which had been raveled into the usual buns on top of her head.

"Aw, it'll be fun," she insisted. "Of course, you're with _Hyuuga Neji_, Tenten." Tenten rolled her eyes again, rebelliously. "He's my teammate, guys. Nothing more." "Yeah right," Ino snorted. "What, do you think we were born yesterday?" Tenten shrugged, pretending to think. "Couldn't really tell with you, Ino."

Ino was about to retort when Shikamaru ambled up, looking annoyed. "Ino, come dance. I want to sit down and play Shogi with Asuma-sensei." Ino blushed vividly, and took his hand, and they half-stumbled and half-waltzed off.

Tenten snorted in a very unladylike manner. "Married first, that one will," she stage whispered to Sakura. Sakura grinned widely from ear to ear. "I really need to see it when Neji asks you to dance, Tenten. The ice cube, melting at last, could it be?"

Tenten smiled and drifted off into the crowd.

A slow song drifted up to the sky. There were various groans and squeals, alternating between boys, girls, couples, and grown sensei nins alike. And then a low, soothing voice said into her ear from behind, "Care to dance, my cherry blossom?"

Sakura sighed contentedly. "My pleasure."

She felt a slight pang of disappointment when she saw that Neji and Tenten were already dancing, having missed the big moment. Neji looked distinctly uncomfortable, while Tenten's expression altered between confused, giddy, and withdrawn.

Her arms carefully placed around his neck, Sakura dared to look up into the black eyes of Uchiha Sasuke, and stood on tiptoe to meet their lips halfway, sweet and sad.

Tenten was feeling a bit confused. Well, a lot confused. Neji was her teammate, and yet she knew he was more than that. Best friend? Perhaps a bit more than that, even? Her arms were burning where they were around his neck. Too bad he had a high collar. Neji's expression was blank, though his eyes flickered once in a while with an unknown emotion.

Then, unexpectedly, in a halting voice, he said flatly, "You look nice, Tenten." She flushed with pleasure at the unexpected compliment. "Arigato, Neji-kun! You look nice, too!" And she meant it.

He bent over and pecked her on the forehead. "Arigato for the dance," he said formally, and let go of her. Tenten stood there, radiating with shocked pleasure. _He kissed me!_

Ino was fighting back giggles as she watched Naruto stumble around happily and squashing Hinata's feet, while Hinata was being swung around helplessly like a ragdoll and burning over a hundred degrees. Yet, strangely, neither of them had ever looked so happy. Ah, strange love.

Naruto hugged Hinata tightly, laughing all the while and completely oblivious to Hinata's eyes, which were looking about ready to roll back into her head from blushing so much.

Ino smiled, content, and let a small giggle escape. "Nani?" Shikamaru asked, sounding slightly curious. "Look," she motioned with her head. Shikamaru glanced at Naruto and Hinata's hilarious performance. "Dobe," he muttered. "Embarrassing to us all."

"I think it's cute," Ino defended. "Cute? It's embarrassing," Shikamaru countered. "Troublesome kyuubi." "Iie, Shika, you're troublesome!" Ino said, sounding mockingly angry. "Eh? Nande? You're a woman, so you're troublesome. I don't like being attached to you."

Ino smirked slyly. "Oh? So you're attached to me?" Now Shikamaru looked distinctly uncomfortable. "Of course. You're my teammate, however annoying." Ino smiled brilliantly. "Are you sure it's just that?" Shikamaru shook his head violently. "Troublesome woman."

"Well, I can think of a way that you can shut me up." Shikamaru raised an eyebrow. "Like what?" "Like this," Ino explained, and hugged him close, capturing his mouth with hers. Shikamaru froze for a second, but then shrugged, supposedly too lazy to actually break away.

And everything was perfect, in this perfect place.

**A/N: Well, that's the end! Sorry, no epilogue…Thank you so much for all of the reviews, and please check out Chords, my "new" Naruto fanfiction! Just try it, please!**


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